UK High Court rules government 'VIP' lanes for buying PPE unlawful

LONDON (AA) – The British High Court ruled Wednesday that the government’s use of a ‘VIP’ lane to hand out contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic was unlawful.

The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor, the two campaign groups that brought the issue to court, argued that the VIP lane gave preferential treatment to groups with the right political connections.

Their case revolved around two groups: PestFix, a pest control company, which received over £340 million in contracts from the government in 2020, and Ayanda Capital, a hedge fund, which received £252 million in contracts the same year.

It was argued in court that the VIP lane was for companies referred by lawmakers, ministers and senior officials, and the Department of Health was accused of prioritizing “suppliers including PestFix and Ayanda because of who they knew, not what they could deliver.”

The Department of Health rejected these arguments, instead insisting that the VIP lane led to a large number of “credible” offers at a time when PPE was hard to source.

Justice Finola O'Farrell said it was unlawful to give the two companies preferential treatment just because they were part of the VIP lane, saying it was “in breach of the obligation of equal treatment” and that “the illegality is marked by this judgment.”

“The High Priority Lane Team was better resourced and able to respond to such offers on the same day that they arrived,” the ruling said, adding “there is evidence that opportunities were treated as high priority even where there were no objectively justifiable grounds for expediting the offer.”

She also ruled, however, that the two companies were “very likely” to have been given contracts regardless of the VIP lane as their offers “justified treatment on its merits,” adding that “sufficient financial due diligence” was carried out.

A spokesperson for then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "We are delighted that the Department for Health has won this case, as the court found that the priority treatment was 'justified' and rightly refused to grant any rectification for the way PPE was urgently bought in the height of the crisis.”

"The department was doing the best it possibly could within the rules to respond to an unprecedented situation, and crucially, the court has rightly found that action was justified and absolutely no rectification or further action is necessary."

Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, said the “Good Law Project revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane for those with political connections in October 2020. And the court has now held that, unsurprisingly, the lane was illegal.”

“Never again should any government treat a public health crisis as an opportunity to enrich its associates and donors at public expense.”

Dr. Julia Grace Patterson, chief executive of EveryDoctor, said: “We brought the government to court because NHS staff and other frontline workers were woefully unsupported and unprotected by this government.”

“Many were provided with no PPE and many died. The government must never again be allowed to conduct themselves in this manner during a national health care crisis.”

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the main opposition Labour Party, said: "While our hardworking NHS staff were going without PPE, Tory politicians saw an opportunity to line their cronies' pockets."