IT is not a surprise that the High Court has found that the award of a contract without competition to long-time associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, Public First, has been proved to be unlawful.
Mr Gove’s defence was that they were the only organisation that could carry out the work, but the court totally rejected this assertion. We should applaud the work of the Good Law Project who, with other organisations supporting them, took out this action, and also the previous case against Matt Hancock.
READ MORE: UK Government broke the law by handing Covid contract to Dominic Cummings's chums
The government’s determination to continue to defend these cases of cronyism can only be a waste of public money and does nothing to ensure such cases do not happen again. Promises broken and rules ignored seem to be the trademark of the Westminster administration, but those found guilty of such breaches are still in office. It is about time the procedures for handling these complaints is updated and enforceable sanctions imposed.
Pete Rowberry
Duns
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