Angela Ranyer: Covid contract VIP lane was 'a scandal of epic proportions'

The "VIP lane" to accelerated way companies recommended by MPs and peers for Covid contracts was a "scandal of epic proportions", Labour has said.

Deputy person Angela Rayner said it "allowed the shameful discarded of taxpayers' wealth and inexcusable profiteering by Tory cronies".

But Minister Nick Gibb said astatine the commencement of the pandemic "we were desperate" to get protective equipment.

Labour is trying to unit ministers to people correspondence astir contracts.

At a Commons statement later, the enactment volition contiguous a question to MPs calling for the merchandise of documents and proposal relating to authorities contracts awarded to 1 company, PPE Medpro.

The authorities has besides faced questions implicit the company's alleged links to Conservative adjacent Michelle Mone.

If Labour's question passes past the authorities would person to people the documents, though they whitethorn reason they tin beryllium redacted for ineligible reasons oregon due to the fact that of commercialized sensitivity.

The thought of the alleged VIP lane was to dainty offers of idiosyncratic protective instrumentality (PPE) with greater urgency if they came from a supplier recommended by ministers, authorities officials oregon MPs and peers from immoderate party.

Schools Minister Mr Gibb said the authorities saved "hundreds of thousands of lives" by procuring PPE astatine velocity astatine the opening of the pandemic.

"The authorities had to bash everything it could to transportation manufacturers to displacement their production," helium told BBC Breakfast.

However, Ms Rayner told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't judge that cronyism and this level of ungraded is to bash with a panic."

Between May and June 2020, PPE Medpro was awarded 2 authorities contracts worthy £203m to proviso masks and aesculapian gowns.

Unusually, the institution was lone a fewer weeks aged erstwhile it signed the archetypal of these agreements.

PPE Medpro said astatine the clip that it had delivered 100% of the declaration to the presumption specified and that it had supplied instrumentality "fully successful accordance with the agreed contract, which included wide presumption arsenic to method specification and show criteria of the products".

The Department of Health and Social Care has since been successful mediation with the steadfast implicit what it has described arsenic an "underperforming contract" and past period MPs were told that nary "satisfactory agreement" had been reached astatine this stage.

Glasgow-born businesswoman Baroness Mone, who joined the House of Lords successful 2015, is being investigated by the Lords commissioner for standards implicit her "alleged involvement" successful procuring contracts for the company.

However, the commissioner says helium is incapable to finalise oregon people his study due to the fact that "the substance is nether probe by the constabulary oregon different bureau of a transgression investigation".

Properties linked to the institution person antecedently been searched by the National Crime Agency.

Emails released nether Freedom of Information laws amusement Baroness Mone referring the institution to a authorities curate during the pandemic.

Last month, Ms Rayner accused the authorities of a "total nonaccomplishment of owed diligence" and a "conflict of interest" successful awarding the contracts to PPE Medpro.

She was responding to an investigation successful the Guardian based connected leaked documents that alleged Baroness Mone had financially benefited from the company.

She told MPs it appeared "tens of millions of pounds" from the wealth awarded to the institution "ended up successful offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved".

Baroness Mone has not responded to requests for comment.

However, asked successful December 2020 astir reports she was linked to the company, her lawyers told BBC News she "had nary relation oregon relation successful PPE Medpro, nor successful the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro".

In his book, Pandemic Diaries, Mr Hancock claimed she had demanded "urgent help" to unafraid contracts successful an email successful June 2021, erstwhile helium was wellness secretary.

He said helium was aboriginal told the tests had not won immoderate contracts due to the fact that they had not passed the standards required and helium chose not to reply to the "extraordinarily assertive email".