Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Labour: Come clean on Covid ‘crony’ deals
Ministers urged to reveal how contracts were awarded
LABOUR last night demanded the Government publish details of meetings that led to Torylinked firms being awarded plum pandemic contracts.
It comes after the High Court heard evidence about a contract handed to Public First – a PR company run by friends of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove.
Labour research published last week suggests the value of contracts awarded to companies with Tory connections amounts to almost £2billion – a figure it claims has doubled since October.
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Rachel Reeves and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner have since written to top officials, calling for more details about the deals to be released.
Labour has also said the firms in question should be made to publish their profit margins to “demonstrate to the British people that taxpayers’ money is being spent wisely and effectively”.
In a letter to Cabinet Secre
Cummings
tary Simon Case, Ms Reeves raised concerns about the Cabinet Office’s “VIP” fast-track scheme for contracts. A National Audit Office report found companies referred in this way – many of which are run by friends of ministers and MPS – were 10 times more likely to secure big-money contracts. Ms Reeves said the Government had “so far declined to publish full details of the companies who won contracts through this lane”, but doing so would “restore public confidence”.
Meanwhile, Ms Rayner wrote to Conservative Party Chair Amanda Milling and warned that the “lack of transparency” was “compounding fears of ‘cronyism’ at the heart of this Government’s pandemic procurement”.
On Monday, campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to Public First. Rival arguments were considered at a virtual High Court hearing. A ruling will be delivered on a date yet to be fixed.
Following the hearing, Ms Reeves wrote to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and urged him to provide more information about how contracts were awarded.
A Government spokesman said: “All government contracts are published as part of our commitment to transparency...” He added “the NAO report found no evidence of ministerial involvement in procurement decisions”.