BEREAVED families of those who died from Covid-19 said today they were “in tears of anger and pain” following Dominic Cummings’s explosive evidence about government failings during the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people died needlessly during the pandemic and it is “intolerable” to delay a public inquiry, the Prime Minister’s former aide told the Commons health and social care and science and technology committees.

Campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice (BFFJ), set up in the wake of the pandemic, said today was a “horrible, upsetting and bleak day for over 150,000 families across the country.”

PM Boris Johnson has committed to an inquiry that will start in spring 2022, but Mr Cummings warned that memories would be rewritten and official documents would go “astray” if the inquiry began next year.

“Tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die,” he told MPs.

“There is absolutely no excuse for delaying that because a lot of the reasons for why that happened are still in place now.”

He suggested MPs should seek to seize control of the issue.

Mr Cummings, who admitted his infamous Barnard Castle trip was a “terrible, terrible, terrible mistake,” said ministers, officials and advisers fell “disastrously short” of the standards that should be expected in a crisis.

He alleged that Mr Johnson was more concerned about the impact on the economy than the need to curb the spread of the virus and save lives.

In a statement, BFFJ said: “The evidence from Cummings is clear, that the government’s combination of grotesque chaos and uncaring flippancy is directly responsible for many of our loved ones not being with us today — and the refusal to have an urgent statutory inquiry risks others joining them.

“The government’s statutory inquiry now has to start immediately and include regular interim reporting.”

BFFJ has been calling on the government to release its internal “lessons learned” investigation into the handling of the pandemic.

The group said that “serious questions” needed answering, adding that “waiting until next year means the information will simply be leaked in an insensitive and hurtful manner — and even worse, lead to more unnecessary deaths.”

Labour MP Richard Burgon told the Star: “After these latest revelations, it’s clearer than ever that while East Asian countries were taking Covid extremely seriously and following a zero-Covid approach, our government was planning for herd immunity and delayed doing the right thing until it was far too late. 

“It shouldn’t need a civil war in the Tory Party to bring to light the negligence at the heart of the government’s Covid response.

“The public inquiry should be brought forward so that those responsible for these deaths can be held accountable. That’s about delivering justice and it’s also about preventing more lives being lost in the future.”

Mr Cummings squashed claims that hospital patients with Covid-19 who were sent back to care homes were shielded as “complete nonsense.”

In April 2020, Health Secretary Matt Hancock came under fire for allowing patients to be discharged to care homes without a test.

Shadow social care minister Liz Kendall said: “Mr Cummings’s comments have revealed what we knew all along.

“As we emerge from this pandemic, ministers must put in place a plan to transform social care and ensure that care homes never again face a crisis of this scale.”

Downing Street defended its handling of care homes, with the PM’s official spokesman saying they have “always been guided by the latest advice” and “taken a number of steps” to protect care home residents. 

Campaign group Every Doctor said Mr Cummings’s claims were “no surprise,” with CEO Dr Julia Patterson saying: “NHS staff have been unprotected, millions in public money has been wasted, and it needs to stop.

“More than 120,000 people, including 880 healthcare workers, died from this virus, but so many of those deaths could have been prevented if the government had done the right things.”

Mr Cummings also claimed that Mr Johnson never wanted tough border controls to prevent cases of coronavirus being brought in from overseas in order to protect the economy.

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds MP said the PM and Home Secretary Priti Patel have “very serious questions to answer about the dire failings they have overseen” and must “urgently get a grip of the dangerous border chaos they have created.”

Labour MP Ian Lavery said: “If the evidence provided by Cummings is only half true then the PM should seriously consider his position.

“He shows an unbelievable lack of leadership and if the ‘pile the bodies high comments’ are in fact correct together with his complete negative compassion for the elderly people of this country are accurate then this man has no place in British politics.”

Mr Johnson insisted during PMQs that his government at “every stage tried to minimise loss of life” but failed to deny claiming Covid was “only killing 80-year-olds” to delay a second lockdown after being pressed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

He also denied considering “chickenpox parties” and “being injected with Covid live on TV”, claims made by Mr Cummings, when pressed by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

Mr Starmer asked if the PM accepted his “inaction led to needless deaths,” with Mr Johnson replying: “No, and all those matters will be reviewed in the course of the public inquiry that I have announced.”