Thread by @RachelReevesMP

This government’s procurement is an ugly mark on its pandemic response.

We’ve seen millions wasted on unusable PPE, a national Serco tracing system not reaching contacts it should, and a growing catalogue of cronyism.

But what's happened this week is a new low.
🔴THREAD🔴

This government outsourcing #FreeSchoolMeals leaves families with shocking replacements for normal vouchers. These photos are a disgrace.

But while they seem adamant to not feed hungry children, let's remind ourselves of contracts they have splashed on in recent months...

In April, the Tories gave £250 million to Ayanda Capital for 50 million face masks - which were later found to be unsafe for NHS workers.

Labour highlighted this as one of the early examples of cronyism given links to the Tory party.

theguardian.com/world/2020/aug…

Matt Hancock has approved nearly £500 million in contracts to Randox - which employs a Tory MP as a consultant - including for 750,000 Covid testing kits which didn't work.

theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…

None will forget fast the contract awarded to his local pub landlord with no prior experience in medical supplies, all after a WhatsApp exchange.

Qualified and experienced British businesses from across the country have expressed their outrage at this.
theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…

Let's not forget the consultants paid £7,000 per day to run the Government's Test and Trace system - which still isn't anywhere near effective enough, with health professionals this week expressing more concern on its ability to curb spread.

news.sky.com/story/coronavi…

In fact, this Tory government has spent just over £163,000 per consultant on Test and Trace - £375 million of taxpayer money.

Shamefully, stories like those in this thread led to a @NYTimes investigation into British crony contracts.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Labour's figures as far back as October revealed the Government handed over more than £1 BILLION to their friends and donors since March.

For far too many of these, transparency is severely lacking, so we're not always sure what they deliver
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

All of this and more is why I called for the National Audit Office report.

This only confirmed the use of a VIP lane for contracts, but also gave clear recommendations for government to clean up its contracting.

We are yet to see an improvement.
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

With the Tories spending so much on contracts that don't deliver - how on Earth can they justify THIS as adequate to feed hungry families during lockdown?

This once again, exposes how this Tory Government's overreliance on outsourcing lets people down. Damning.