The formal inquiry into the Government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic is a “massive task”, a Cabinet minister said as he defended the amount of time it will take. 

The inquiry announced yesterday that its aim is to conclude public evidence hearings by the summer of 2026, long after the next general election which has to be called by the end of next year.

Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said he believed it was “right that we have a really thorough and detailed examination of the big questions” relating to the pandemic. 

Asked if the inquiry really needed to take so long, Mr Stride told LBC Radio: “Well, I think it’s right that we have a really thorough and detailed examination of the big questions that there are to ask about both the pandemic and the government’s response to it. And I think there are millions of people who want a thorough examination of that. 

“It is a massive task. I mean, we’ve now as a government provided to Baroness Hallett about 55,000 different documents, for example, various witness statements, corporate witness statements, there’s a huge volume of information that will have to be gone through, so these things do take time.”

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