Politics and the Pandemic: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and Devolution

Abstract

Drawing on documentary and oral evidence presented in Module 2 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, this article asks what the inquiry tells us about the nature and dynamics of intergovernmental relations (IGR) from the UK and devolved governments' interactions over the course of the pandemic. In so doing, the article focusses on formal IGR structures (since reformed), the actions of political leaders within these formal and informal structures and entrenched institutional cultures , with a particular focus on the ways in which decision-making processes and devolved dynamics were understood by the principal actors over the course of the pandemic. The article concludes with reflections on how IGR might be reset or reformed by the newly elected UK government.