Jordan Pettitt/PA
The Conservative Party handed out payments worth £114 million for undelivered or cancelled Covid contracts before they were booted out of office – with 86 per cent of that going to firms linked with senior Tory figures.
An investigation by the Good Law Project has revealed that hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds were dished out by the Health Department and the UK Health Security Agency after cancelling contracts for equipment that was never needed or items which didn’t meet specifications.
The vast majority of that cash went to Tory-linked companies and people who secured contracts through the so-called VIP lane.
One such company, named Ecolog, got a payout of £38 million even though it never provided any services at all.
The revelations have come to light as the Conservatives pile the pressure on Labour for receiving donations and freebies which, in some cases, surpass £100,000.
In the first controversy to hit Sir Keir Starmer’s new government, questions have been raised over Lord Alli – the business executive who has donated some £700,000 to the party over the past two decades – being handed a Downing Street pass.
The row, dubbed “passes for glasses”, emerged after it was revealed that Lord Alli had gifted the Sir Keir eyewear and work clothing worth £18,000, clothes for his wife Lady Victoria Starmer, and a £10,000 donation to the PM’s chief of staff Sue Gray’s son Liam Conlon’s campaign to become a Labour MP.
All donations have been properly recorded.
Starmer believes some media coverage “is getting silly” on the issue, especially after chancellor Rachel Reeves turned the tables on the BBC pointing out they were receiving the same gifts.
Related: James O’Brien dismantling Tory freebie smears is a refreshing reality check
