Thread by @JolyonMaugham

You can read here the exchange of correspondence between @GoodLawProject and lawyers acting for @MattHancock in relation to Pestfix and Clandeboye. Some startling revelations... THREAD goodlawproject.org/news/the-ppe-f…

First, the Government has now spent £5.5bn on PPE.

Second, despite receiving offers from 16,000 suppliers, the Government chose a confectionary wholesaler, a supplier of pest control services and a family investment fund owned in a tax haven to receive some of the biggest contracts.

The Government misreported the value of the Pestfix contract as £108m; in fact it was £32.4m although a number of other contracts have also been concluded with Pestfix. (They are not yet published; what's the betting they'll sum to £108m?)

Fourth, despite Government using the exceptional urgency procedure to bypass normal tendering rules, the isolation suits supplied are being held in a warehouse and have not even been tested!

Fifth, as I understand this paragraph, Pestfix, a company with last reported net assets of £18,000 was paid 75% of £32.4m in respect of isolation suits even before they were delivered!

What is abundantly clear from this paragraph - which is a very unusual form - is that @MattHancock is super-keen for us to go away.

(Don't worry, we won't).

We also do not understand why Government is further occluding transparency by ignoring its own guidance (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…) that contracts should be published within 20 days.

Obviously I have cherry picked the bits that I find most interesting - but please do read all the correspondence (that's why we've published it).

Our present intention is to pursue judicial review proceedings in respect of the Pestfix, Clandeboye and Akanda contracts.

If you'd like to support the case you can do so here: crowdjustice.com/case/108millio…

Please sign our petition to ask @MattHancock why he is breaking the usual rule about publishing contracts here: goodlawproject.org/news/ppe-suppl…