Hancock is urged to apologise for claims over PPE

MPS HAVE called on Matt Hancock to apologise after he denied there was ever a national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister and Leeds MP Rachel Reeves urged the Health Secretary to say sorry to NHS and care staff who “had to make makeshift PPE” due to a lack of equipment.

Asking an urgent question in the Commons relating to the awarding of Covid-19 contracts during the pandemic, Ms Reeves also accused ministers of thinking they are “above the law”.

Last week, the High Court ruled that the Government unlawfully failed to publish details of coronavirus-related contracts worth billions.

It followed the launching of a judicial review against the Department of Health and Social Care by The Good Law Project over its failure to disclose details of contracts worth more than £120,000 within 30 days of them having been awarded.

Speaking in the Commons, Ms Reeves said: “A stain has emerged with this Government’s response to the crisis. There has been an unedifying gold rush of chums and of chancers.”

Echoing Ms Reeves’ calls for the Government to apologise to those working on the front line who at times “were not protected”, Green MP Caroline Lucas added: “Does he understand why that is so insulting to the doctors who were forced to wear bin bags in the absence of gowns and to the nurses who were wearing goggles from Screwfix?”

Health minister Edward Argar reiterated that the National Audit Office found the country “did not run out of PPE nationally”, although he admitted there were “significant challenges” in some hospitals.

He said: “As the NAO report highlighted, we did not run out of PPE nationally. That is not to say that there were not significant challenges in some hospitals in some areas around the distribution of that PPE – and that has been acknowledged throughout this pandemic.”