The Labour Party has asked what the UK Government has “got to hide” as it has not released a “single sheet” of evidence over an investigation into PPE linked to a Tory peer.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “MedPro, a company linked to Baroness Mone, was handed hundreds of millions of pounds in government contracts during the pandemic, and it has now been reported it has been raided by the police as well as her home.
“There are serious questions about the due diligence that was performed on this company, so can the Leader of the House let us know what evidence they hold and why they are refusing to give a single sheet of it out into the public domain? What have you got to hide?”
Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg pointed out that he is no longer the Commons Leader, a role now filled by Mark Spencer.
He responded: “I would make a point to her that business question follows in due course and that it will be her opportunity to raise these things with the Leader then.”
Lady Mone has consistently denied any “role or function” in the company and her lawyers have said she is “not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.
Rayner replied: “Well, that was a way of deflecting from the actual serious question that they are not willing to answer, because they know there is suspicion about the way in which they handled those contracts.”
She accused the government of “frittering away almost half a million pounds a day on storing PPE unfit for human use”, asking: “Will the government’s Procurement Bill close the loophole and prevent cronyism from corrupting our politics and wasting public money?”
Rees-Mogg said Labour had made “completely false charges”, adding: “We needed PPE, there was a global shortage, everyone in the world was buying PPE and British manufacturing managed to turn round and supply PPE in unprecedented quantities.
“If I remember rightly from when I was Leader of the House, it went from about 1% domestically-produced PPE to well over 70%, possibly even into the 80s, that was produced domestically.
“This was an enormous effort and it has to be said everyone was calling for it at the time because it was urgent to protect people in care homes, to protect people in hospitals, to protect people in offices.”
In January, the House of Lords launched an investigation into Mone's “alleged involvement in procuring contracts for PPE Medpro” and whether it potentially breached the code of conduct.
Her lawyers previously told the Guardian she had no association with the company or any involvement in the awarding of contracts.
PPE Medpro was awarded two contracts to supply protective equipment in May 2020 as part of the so-called 'VIP lane', which allowed MPs, ministers and senior officials to pass on offers of help from suppliers, who could be awarded contracts without competing bids.
In June 2020, it won another contract worth £122m to supply millions of protective gowns to the NHS. But the BBC revealed none were ever used, and the company is in dispute with the government about the contract.
It is not known if a raid by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and any potential investigation are connected to PPE contracts.
On the morning of 27 April, the NCA executed search warrants at addresses linked to PPE Medpro in London and on the Isle of Man.
After the raid, the NCA stated: “The NCA does not routinely confirm or deny the existence of investigations or the names of those who may or may not be under investigation.”
Baroness Mone has not commented on the raid.
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