Share this page!

Good Law Project Profile picture
Twitter logo
13 Jan, 10 tweets, 4 min read
🔴The High Court has ruled that the Government’s fast-track ‘VIP’ lane, which awarded lucrative PPE contracts worth billions of pounds to those with political connections, was unlawful!

Over a year of hard work has paid off. Here’s how we did it 🧵⬇️
goodlawproject.org/update/high-co…
🔴In October 2020, we revealed the existence of the secretive 'VIP' lane.

🔴Leaked documents set out special pathways by which ‘VIP’ & ‘Cabinet Office’ contacts could be awarded lucrative PPE contracts at the height of the pandemic 1⃣
goodlawproject.org/news/special-p…
🔴In November 2020, the High Court granted us permission to challenge the Government’s VIP PPE contracts.

🔴The NAO confirmed politically connected companies referred onto the ‘VIP’ lane were 10 times more likely to be awarded a contract compared to ‘ordinary’ firms! 2⃣
🔴In December 2020, working with @guardian we were the first to reveal that PPE Medpro were channelled down the VIP lane and subsequently awarded £200m worth of Government PPE contracts 🤯 3⃣
theguardian.com/world/2020/dec…
🔴In January 2021, we sent an FOI to the Government to force them to reveal the names of companies awarded contracts via the VIP lane.

🔴 A 9-month battle ensued, and in October the ICO agreed with us and ordered Government to publish the names. 4⃣
goodlawproject.org/news/they-have…
🔴May 2021 - Our High Court hearing begins! 5⃣
goodlawproject.org/update/first-d…
🔴In November 2021, we were finally able to name the 50 beneficiaries of the VIP lane - and the Conservative politicians who referred them 🚀6⃣
goodlawproject.org/news/conservat…
🔴This week, our hard work has been vindicated, as the Court has found the Government’s VIP lane to be unlawful! 🥳 7⃣
goodlawproject.org/update/high-co…
🔴The fight goes on ✊ This week, we have also complained to the ICO about the Government's refusal to publish details of its secretive 'VIP' lane for testing.

More news to follow 👀 8⃣ goodlawproject.org/update/breakin…
We couldn’t take on cases like this one without our amazing supporters. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here 👉9⃣ glplive.org/dd-vips-tw-1301

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Good Law Project

Good Law Project Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @GoodLawProject

Good Law Project Profile picture
12 Jan
BREAKING: High Court finds Government PPE ‘VIP’ lane for politically connected suppliers ‘unlawful’ 🚨
glplive.org/vip-lane-12012…
🧵Over a year of hard work has paid off today.

The High Court found: “the Claimants have established that operation of the High Priority Lane was in breach of the obligation of equal treatment… the illegality is marked by this judgment.” 1⃣
The Judge agreed the VIP lane conferred preferential treatment on bids: it sped up the process, which meant offers were considered sooner in a process where timing was critical, and VIPs’ hands were held through the process. 2⃣
Read 11 tweets
Good Law Project Profile picture
30 Dec 21
We know how vital it is to hold Government to account.

This year our investigations have continued to shine a light into dark corners.

Here’s a look back⬇️
🔴We ran a 9 month investigation that helped reveal the names of 50 companies that landed billions in PPE contracts via a secret ‘VIP’ lane

🔴£1.6bllion worth of contracts were awarded after referrals from just 10 Conservative politicians
glplive.org/kd4
🔴In April, Good Law Project revealed how a former advisor to the Home Secretary acted as a fixer to land huge PPE deals worth more than £100m.

🔴And in May we revealed how Priti Patel intervened to help the same middleman win enormous contracts
Read 5 tweets
Good Law Project Profile picture
14 Dec 21
We are in Court today and tomorrow on a difficult case about an important principle: that the Government mustn't fill public jobs from amongst its friends.

👇🧵1/?
'By definition, when decision-makers conduct closed recruitments, they are only able to choose between candidates with whom they are already connected.' Our co-claimant: @Halima_Begum @RunnymedeTrust
Judge: I do regard question of whether there was a provision criterion or practice and whether it was particular disadvantage to groups with protected characteristics that we cite as being one of central questions in this case.
Read 9 tweets
Good Law Project Profile picture
1 Dec 21
Government has hit us with a shock legal bill in our challenge with @RunnymedeTrust over its appointment of Conservative Peer Dido Harding to run the disastrous Test and Trace programme – without open competition🚨 (1/7)
Back in March, Government said their costs ‘would be in the region of £35,000 to £50,000’, so we didn’t seek a costs cap (a Court order that would have ‘capped’ how much we’d have to pay Government if we don’t win) (2/7)
A couple of months later, they wrote to say their expected costs would actually be closer to £150,000… (3/7)
Read 7 tweets
Good Law Project Profile picture
19 Nov 21
It’s been another busy week here at Good Law Project, with some explosive findings 💥👇(1/6)
After a 9 month long battle with Government, we shared the list of companies involved in the VIP lane - and the politicians who referred them…⬇️ (2/6)
Then, the next day it emerged the VIP list included 3 more companies, including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps - named as the ‘source of referral’ for VIP firm ‘EyeSpace Eyewear’ who landed a £1.4m deal to provide Goggles. Full story here (3/6) glplive.org/3b7
Read 6 tweets
Good Law Project Profile picture
8 Nov 21
This afternoon Government is holding an emergency debate on standards - with ongoing accusations of ‘sleaze’.

Luckily, we’ve been keeping track 👇(1/6)
Government told us there was no ‘VIP Lane’ for testing contracts. But we’ve uncovered evidence that shows there was and Ministers used it to refer firms for fast track treatment (2/6)
glplive.org/bqn
The pandemic procurement sleaze doesn’t stop there… We revealed a testing firm was awarded government approval - after a Conservative-linked fixer lobbied Matt Hancock (3/6)
glplive.org/hpd
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @GoodLawProject has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @GoodLawProject!

Read all threads by @GoodLawProject

:(