An open letter to Craig Williams MP

I write with reference to the recent court case concerning the Government’s purchase of Personal Protective Equipment and services during the Covid Pandemic.

It seems that there has been a lack of competitive tendering and transparency in the spending of hundreds of millions, if not billions of taxpayers’ money and I understand that a number of court cases have been issued, of which this one is among the first.

Reputable companies with the capacity and track record in the supply of the relevant goods and services have been ignored.

As a result, the Minister of State for Health and Social Care, Mr Hancock, has found himself in court. He has been ordered to comply with the Government’s legal duty to make the paperwork relating to these contracts available to taxpayers’ representatives.

Instead, Mr Hancock spent over £200,000 of yet more taxpayers’ money defending the claim in apparent reluctance to allow this information to be made public.

The rate of deaths from Covid 19 is among the highest, if not the highest, in the entire world. Many others are suffering from serious after-effects of the disease in the form of Long Covid, and essential medical treatment for many more people has been seriously delayed because of the crisis.

At the very least, your constituents deserve an unreserved apology from the Minister and an assurance that proper procedures will be followed in the future, so that the right equipment is obtained for the right price at the right time, and then distributed properly.

Everyone understands that a crisis such as this can lead to mistakes, but systematic failure to get things right costs lives, rather than saves them.

The first duty of any Government is to protect its citizens. Your constituents need to be sure that their needs and concerns are the sole focus of their representatives in this crisis. The Government’s, and Mr Hancock’s actions raise serious doubts about this.

Rosemary Foggitt

Castle Caereinion