Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed to go after PPE Medpro ‘with everything we’ve got’ after it failed to meet a demand by the High Court to repay cash by today
A firm linked to Baroness Mone has missed a deadline to repay £122million to the Government for supplying defective PPE.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed to go after PPE Medpro “with everything we’ve got” after it failed to meet a demand by the High Court to pay up by 4pm today.
It comes after the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) successfully sued the consortium, which was led by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, over the supply of 25 million surgical gowns in 2020 that failed to meet sterility standards.
Mrs Justice Cockerill ordered PPE Medpro to repay the taxpayers’ cash with interest, taking the bill to over £145million. Interest will be charged at 8% per annum from tomorrow, until the money is repaid to the Government.
PPE Medpro filed for insolvency the day before the ruling, and its most recent accounts showed assets of just £666,000.
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Mr Streeting said: “At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash. PPE Medpro has failed to meet the deadline to pay – they still owe us over £145 million, with interest now accruing daily.
“We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything we’ve got to get these funds back where they belong – in our NHS.”
The Mirror first revealed the links between Baroness Mone and PPE Medpro, which won major contracts to supply protective equipment during the pandemic.
The Scottish lingerie tycoon referred the company to ministers through the controversial VIP lane in 2020 as the Covid pandemic swept the nation.
She denied any involvement in the firm to the Mirror but it later emerged she and her husband had benefited from £65million in profits from the company.
In 2023, the couple admitted to lying to the press about their involvement in PPE Medpro.
A spokesperson for the consortium behind PPE Medpro said: “On Friday, 11th October, it was made clear that the consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into discussions with the Government, via the administrators, to reach a possible settlement.
“This was made very public, and the Government was made aware of it. Yet, very disappointingly, the Government has made no effort to respond or seek to enter into discussions.”
Barristers for PPE Medpro told the trial in the summer that the company had been “singled out for unfair treatment” and claimed the gowns became defective because of the conditions in which they were kept after being delivered.
Lady Mone claimed after the ruling that the Government had made her and Mr Barrowman the “poster couple for the PPE scandal” and alleged it had turned down multimillion-pound offers to settle the case. Mr Barrowman said the ruling was a “travesty of justice”.
PPE Medpro insists that it provided the gowns as promised and disputes that the gowns were not sterile. It has also said the court made its ruling on a technicality.
Baroness Mone has faced intense scrutiny over her position since the High Court ruling on October 1. More than 285,000 people have signed a petition calling for her to be stripped of her peerage and kicked out of the House of Lords.
She was made a Tory peer by David Cameron but she took a leave of absence from the Lords in 2022, which means she no longer has the whip.
It would require an act of Parliament to remove her peerage but she could choose to resign from being a member of the Lords.
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