The government is under pressure to release records relating to a multi-million pound PPE contract linked to Tory peer Baroness Mone.
In the House of Commons, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner hit out at a “total failure of due diligence” as she asked about PPE Medpro winning a contract for personal protective equipment and “profits made possible through the company’s personal connections to ministers”.
“Last night, documents seen by The Guardian revealed that yet another case of taxpayers’ money was wasted, a total failure of due diligence, and a conflict of interest at the heart of government procurement,” she said.
“In May 2020 PPE Medpro was set up and given £203 million in government contracts after a referral from a Tory peer.
“It now appears that tens of millions of pounds of that money ended up in offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved, profits made possible through the company’s personal connections to ministers and theTories’ VIP lane that was declared illegalby the High Court.”
Ms Rayner said there “are rightly separate investigations into Baroness Mone’s conduct, but the questions this case raises are far wider”.
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Michelle Mone, the Conservative peer who founded the lingerie brand Ultimo, is under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioner for standards.
Parliament’s website says this is over “alleged involvement in procuring contracts for PPE Medpro leading to potential breaches…of the House of Lords code of conduct”.
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Ms Rayner said the government was refusing to publish correspondence relating to the award of the Medpro contract because they are still engaged in a mediation process.
In an urgent question to health minister Neil O’Brien she asked if that mediation process has reached any outcome “and what public funds have been recovered, if any?”
Mr O’Brien said it was “widely reported it had an underperforming contract” and laid out the process the government would pursue.
“The first step is to send a letter before action which outlines a claim for damages.
“And that’s then followed by litigation in the event that a satisfactory agreement has not been reached.
“And to answer the right honourable lady’s question directly, we haven’t got to the point where a satisfactory agreement has been reached at this stage.”
Downing Street would not be drawn on the allegations around Baroness Mone.
Ms Rayner said that while today’s reports concern just one case “this government has written off £10 billion alone in PPE that was deemed unfit for use”.
“Ministers appear to have learned no lessons and have no shame. As families struggle to make ends meet, taxpayers will spend £700,000 a day on the storage of inadequate PPE.”
The government’s use of high priority lanes to speed up the award process for PPE contracts during the pandemic have been branded “VIP Lanes” by critics, with Labour previously claiming there is a “cash for access” culture within the Tory party.
But being referred to the high-priority lane “was emphatically not a guarantee of a contract and indeed, nearly 90% of offers referred through the route were unsuccessful”, the Downing Street spokesman said.
Baroness Mone has declined to comment on the latest allegations.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.