Covid inquiry must investigate Clipper Logistics PPE deal - York MP

A Labour MP has said the Covid inquiry "absolutely must" examine the decision to award a £130m PPE transportation deal to Tory party donor Steven Parkin.

Mr Parkin gave £700,000 to the Conservatives between 2016 and 2019 before his Clipper Logistics was given the distribution sub-contract in 2020.

Rachael Maskell said the decision should be scrutinised by the inquiry.

A spokesperson for Mr Parkin said the businessman was "not involved" in the award of the sub-contract to Clipper.

The government has said it was "awarded in line with procurement regulations".

Prior to the pandemic, the Leeds-based Clipper Logistics made its name from transporting goods for some of the UK's biggest retail brands.

At the beginning of the government's response to the pandemic, civil servants rushed to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) across the healthcare sector and beyond.

Public records show that from March 2020 the West Yorkshire firm entered into an 18-month sub-contract with the government valued at at least £130m.

A UK-wide inquiry, which will hear its first public evidence on Tuesday and could go on as long as three years, will look at the UK government's approach to the pandemic.

Ms Maskell, York Central MP and member of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, told BBC Yorkshire: "The inquiry absolutely must look at this contract, and this is I believe what the inquiry is trying to establish - how the money flowed, how the contracts worked, and also what was delivered from that."

She added: "We need to ensure that it's acting on behalf ultimately of all of those who experience detriment or sadly lost their lives as a result of what happened."

Electoral Commission records show Mr Parkin, the executive chairman of Clipper Logistics, made donations of between £25,000-£250,000 to the political party in the three years prior to the pandemic.

A statement issued on behalf of Mr Parkin said: "Any attempt to portray the personal donation by Mr Parkin to the Conservative Party as a contributing factor to Clipper being asked to undertake PPE distribution during the pandemic is a gross distortion of the truth and completely incorrect.

"It is a fact that Mr Parkin was not involved in the award of the sub-contract to Clipper in any way, nor, as far as we are aware, were any government ministers."

It said the Ministry of Defence had approached other companies as well as Clipper but that "Clipper was the only logistics provider that stepped up to the challenge and was able to get a solution up and running within the required timeframe - it was operational in four days."

A Department for Health and Social Care said: "These contracts were awarded in line with procurement regulations and the details have been made public."

Clipper Logistics was sold to the American firm GXO for £965m in May 2022, with Mr Parkin no longer associated with the new firm.

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