Prime Minister denies his government diverted Welsh Covid test deal

The prime minister has denied that his government "intercepted" a deal for 5,000 Covid tests in Wales.

It comes after a Welsh health boss claimed the UK government had "clearly prioritised" Covid tests for England in March 2020.

Plaid Cymru Arfon MP Hywel Williams accused Boris Johnson of disregarding "Welsh lives" over the claims, originally reported by Channel 4 News.

But the prime minister said he was "completely wrong".

The claims had emerged in emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

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Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Williams said: "In March last year this United Kingdom Conservative government intercepted a deal between Wales and the Roche pharmaceutical company for 5,000 daily Covid tests, instructing the company to "reserve all additional Covid tests" for England.

"Those tests would have been crucial to saving thousands of lives in Wales. So, as we go to the polls next week, will the prime minister tell us why Welsh lives meant so little to him?"

In response, the prime minister said he was "completely wrong in what he says about the tests" but said Wales had made an "amazing contribution" to the "fightback" against coronavirus.

In March last year, it emerged that a Welsh government deal with a supplier to provide an extra 5,000 coronavirus tests a day had collapsed.

The Welsh government had said it was "disappointing" that a company, later identified as the Swiss firm Roche, was not able to honour a written agreement.

However Roche later said it "never had a contract or agreement directly with Wales" to supply coronavirus testing.

Wales then received tests as part of a UK-wide rollout.

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In an email Tracey Cooper of Public Health Wales said supplier Roche had been called into a meeting with the UK government, and "we understand that they were instructed to reserve all the additional tests they had to be used in England and after that, by agreement with [the devolved administrations]".

Dr Cooper claims this was then confirmed to her by a director at Public Health England (PHE) who had been tasked with striking a UK government deal with Roche.

Writing to Welsh senior health officials, Dr Cooper states that after a four-nations call, PHE "intercepted" a Welsh order of 5,000 tests from Roche on 22 March 2020 and instructed companies that all tests should go to UK government departments for distribution.

Separately, Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts also accused the prime minister of ticking the principles of the ministerial code off his "don't do list".

Ms Saville Roberts also claimed Mr Johnson had tried to "play down allegations" that he had said he would rather see "bodies pile high" than take England into a third lockdown.

She asked: "Given that the sole judge on questions relating to the conduct of ministers and the conduct of the prime minister is the prime minister himself: what happens when a prime minister goes rogue?"

But the prime minister said "people of this country have a chance to make their own minds up on 6 May" and said that voters should "avoid voting for Plaid Cymru".

A Welsh Lib Dem spokesman said: "The only way the UK can defeat Covid is if all four nations work together to ramp up both testing and vaccinations. Not for the first time Boris Johnson appears to be ignoring everyone except England."

On Wednesday it was announced that the Electoral Commission has launched an investigation into funding of works on Boris Johnson's Downing Street flat.

Mr Johnson told the Commons he covered the revamp "personally" - but would not say who paid the initial bill.

Welsh Labour leader Mark Drakeford said he was "very glad" to see the investigation.

"It really is time that the public had the full story about this. It's very clear that the prime minister and others have been using very carefully contrived forms of words to keep the full story from the public," he claimed.