The government’s use of a VIP fast lane for suppliers of Covid personal protective equipment (PPE) with connections to ministers and officials has been ruled unlawful by the High Court.
Campaigners from the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor took the Department of Health and Social Care to court over claims that suppliers with political links were given an unfair advantage in obtaining contracts running into hundreds of millions of pounds.
In a ruling released today, judge Mrs Justice O’Farrell found that the VIP lane system was “in breach of the obligation of equal treatment”, adding: “The illegality is marked by this judgment.”
At the height of the first wave of coronavirus, a number of bids to supply PPE such as gowns, masks and gloves were passed on to officials by ministers including then health secretary Matt Hancock after they were approached directly by contacts.
The groups took legal action over more than £340 million in contracts awarded to pest control firm PestFix and a contract worth around £252 million to the hedge fund Ayanda Capital.
They argued that suppliers including PestFix and Ayanda were prioritised “because of who they knew, not what they could deliver”.
DHSC contested the claim, telling the court it “wholeheartedly” rejected the case against it and that the VIP lane was rational and resulted in a “large number of credible offers” in an environment where PPE deals often failed within “minutes”.
The court found that offers introduced by “senior referrers” such as ministers or high-ranking officials received “earlier consideration” than others submitted under the normal processes.
“The High Priority Lane Team was better resourced and able to respond to such offers on the same day that they arrived,” said the ruling.
And the judge that “there is evidence that opportunities were treated as high priority even where there were no objectively justifiable grounds for expediting the offer”.
However, she found that both of the companies’ offers “justified priority treatment on its merits” and were “very likely” to have been awarded contracts even without the VIP lane.
Barrister Jo Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said: “Good Law Project revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane for those with political connections in October 2020. And the court has now held that, unsurprisingly, the lane was illegal.
“Never again should any government treat a public health crisis as an opportunity to enrich its associates and donors at public expense.”
The chief executive of campaign group EveryDoctor, Dr Julia Grace Patterson, said: “We brought the government to court because NHS staff and other frontline workers were woefully unsupported and unprotected by this government.
“Many were provided with no PPE and many died. The government must never again be allowed to conduct themselves in this manner during a national healthcare crisis”.
The ruling noted that some of the equipment supplied, including aprons, gowns and masks, could not be used in the NHS.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called for a full independent inquiry into the VIP fast lane system.
“While our hardworking NHS staff were going without PPE, Tory politicians saw an opportunity to line their cronies’ pockets,” said Ms Rayner.
“A judge has now ruled the VIP lane unlawful but that may be just the tip of the iceberg.
“Even now ministers are covering up key documents while critical messages and minutes have gone missing.
“Only a fully independent investigation will get to the bottom of how £3.5bn of taxpayers’ cash were handed out in crony contracts and ensure it can never happen again.”
