The British State

This chapter considers how emerging memorialisation of the COVID-19 pandemic has intersected with both state agency and critical questions about government performance during events which began in March 2020. It is noted that, while the Scottish Government (and to some extent Welsh Government) formally supported memorialisation, the Westminster Government has been notably more hesitant. Attention is given to the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, which in 2023 laid out a series of suggestions regarding how the state should engage with issues of memorialisation, but which has been largely sidelined since submitting its proposals. The chapter ends with discussion of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which though not primarily focused on memorialisation has nonetheless been sometimes controversially involved with commemorative activities.