Ministers in Westminster feared Covid could become a “federalist Trojan horse” due to the closer working relationships with leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Senior government figures including the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, were concerned about the amount of influence applied from outside Whitehall, according to documents submitted to the second module of the Covid inquiry.
In evidence shown today, Johnson claimed it was “optically wrong” for him to hold regular meetings with the leaders of the devolved nations.
