AN exposé of the Tory government's "secret channel for cronies" has been beamed onto the side of the Westminster Parliament.
The video, created by Led By Donkeys in conjunction with the Good Law Project, details the many questions that remain over the UK Government’s conduct during the Covid crisis.
It raises legal concerns about Downing Street’s so-called “VIP lane” for select companies and runs through the vast sums awarded to firms owned or linked to associates of top level government officials.
Amid court action by the Good Law Project to reveal more about the contracts, the short film raises questions about why the Government is so reluctant to name more of the companies involved in the lucrative PPE schemes.
The narrator in the video says: “As the first wave of Covid was raging, Johnson’s government created a secret back channel that allowed friends of the Conservative Party and other politically connected suppliers to secure billions of pounds of PPE contracts – all while under-protected NHS staff were struggling on the front line.”
🚨 This is a story that everyone in the country should hear. (In collaboration with @GoodLawProject, location: Parliament) pic.twitter.com/CSQeiMxrNn
— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) August 11, 2021
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He points to evidence from the National Audit Office which shows companies in the “VIP lane” were 10 times more likely to win contracts than those that weren’t.
“This secret channel for cronies wasn’t about cutting red tape to access life-saving PPE,” the narrator says. “It wasn’t about cutting corners to get cheaper deals. It had the opposite effect.”
The video then lists the companies that have so far been named in reports about VIP contracts.
They include Ayanda Capital, which provided the UK Government with 50 million face masks which the NHS deemed unusable, as part of a £252 million contract.
A further £276m went to Steve Dechan, a former Tory councillor in Stroud, for face masks and gowns. Fewer than one in 400 of the visors have been used, meaning each has cost the taxpayer the equivalent of £423.
But the video highlights how most of the companies that have benefitted from the VIP lane are yet to be named.
“The Prime Minister needs to come clean and publish all internal government correspondence about the secret back channel,” the narrator concludes.
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