Ministers accused of cronyism in awarding of Covid contracts
Labour MP Valerie Vaz has accused the Government of cronyism in its awarding of Covid-19 contracts.
The Shadow Commons leader said Ministers seemed to be "bypassing the normal procurement process" and helping "VIPs win lucrative contracts for PPE".
It came after a firm run by a Tory councillor was given a £156 million contract to supply medical gowns without any competition.
Appearing before MPs, Walsall South MP Ms Vaz, said: "Could the Government prove to us that they're not misusing public money so far characterised by cronyism and incompetence?"
In response, Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Government had had to act quickly because it had gone "from a standing start to try to ensure that the country deals with a pandemic".
"Our usual processes for procurement assume there is plenty of time. In this instance there wasn't," he added.
He said that all contracts "must be scrutinised" and added: "And when they're scrutinised, the Government will have turned out to have behaved with impeccable propriety."
The contract was awarded in May to P14 Medical, which is run by Steve Dechan – a councillor in Stroud at the time – despite the firm having operated at a loss in 2019.
It is the latest in a number of concerns raised over Covid contracts.
PPE Medpro, a company led by a former business associate of Tory peer Michelle Mone, landed a £122m contract seven weeks after it was founded, while SG Recruitment UK, a staffing agency which has Conservative peer Lord Chadlington on the board of its parent company, won two PPE contracts worth more than £50m.
Shadow Cabinet Office secretary Rachel Reeves, said there had been "growing worries" about the lack of transparency of the Government's approach to awarding public contracts during the pandemic.
"It is crucial that the public has total confidence that the best decisions are being made for the right reasons," she added.
