Thread by @allthecitizens

🚨BREAKING:

Construction company run by Conservative Party donors wins £7.2m in Covid-19 contracts from the Ministry of Justice. THREAD:

Two contracts, both starting on March 19th 2021 and running up to March 31st 2023 were awarded to Wates Construction Ltd for “HMCTS construction works relating to emergency Covid”, @allthecitizens and @BylineBITE can report.

Wates Construction is owned by the Wates Group, one of the largest construction firms in the UK, which retains numerous subsidiaries under the Wates umbrella dealing with “construction, property services, and residential development”.
wates.co.uk/articles/news/…

A family run firm, the group’s chairman is James Wates CBE, with various other members of the family holding board positions in the company’s various business-related and charitable arms. Wates’ CEO is David Allen.
…te.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/018248…

The group have long been known for their extensive donations to the Conservative Party, and between 2001-2017 Wates Group Services (owned by the Wates Group) donated £460,000 to the Tories.

Former CEO Sir Christopher Wates, also featured in the above image, has given a further £15,000, including £10,000 to Conservative MP for Hastings & Rye Sally-Ann Hart in 2019.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem…

Additionally, not 1 but 2 family members, chairman James and director Timothy Wates, have represented the business at meetings of the Conservative Leaders Group dining club, which allows access to high-ranking politicians for an annual fee of £50k
powerbase.info/index.php/The_…

James also drew the scrutiny of parliamentarians personally in 2018, when he was appointed to chair Theresa May’s corporate governance review watchdog, with shadow cabinet members questioning whether such a large donor was a fit choice for the role.
theguardian.com/business/2018/…

The Wates Group did exceedingly well in 2020, securing £2.4bn of new work, and ending the year with a record-breaking forward order book of £6.6bn, a 13.5% increase on the previous year.
constructionmanagermagazine.com/wates-order-bo…

The Group also accessed £50m through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and £7.7m through the Job Retention Scheme, after announcing mass redundancies amounting to over 300 jobs in May 2020, the first major contractor to do so.
building.co.uk/news/wates-ann…

The Group had originally announced an April furlough of ¼ of its workforce, and pay cuts “at nearly all levels within the company” - before moving to mass redundancies in May in a bid to “match the size of our business to our forecasted levels of activity”
wates.co.uk/articles/news/…

More recently, the company has just secured a fresh £37m property development contract from Hounslow council, to run between June 2021 and April 2023
contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/d4c2194…

There’s no assertion of wrongdoing on the part of the Wates group, or that they are unable to fulfill them, but rather in the interests of transparency to point out an ongoing trend of those in proximity to the Tory party being awarded public sector contracts.

A spokesperson for the Wates Group said:

For the full @BylineTimes write up, please follow the link below:

bylinetimes.com/2021/07/29/pro…