Yesterday, BBC Health had:
The lives of NHS staff and patients were put at risk in the pandemic because of a lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), with almost £10bn of taxpayers’ money wasted in a scramble to buy more, the Covid inquiry has said.
The chair Baroness Hallett criticised the “vast” waste in procurement, put at £9.9bn – two-thirds of the £14.9bn the government spent on PPE.
The UK entered the pandemic with its stockpile of masks, gowns and gloves in a perilous state and was unprepared for the global race to secure supplies, she added. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrxrlydyzzo
BBC Scotland TV and radio broadcasts shared these findings but did not remind us of this from March 2025:
This is a shocking revelation of how, when the going got tough, Scotland did not benefit from the Union but, rather, was actively harmed by it.
The above short video is a must watch and share for any who doubt the true nature of Scotland’s position in the UK.
Nearly 5 years before we knew this but the ‘Scottish’ media tried to hide it:
BBC Scotland and the Herald, predictably, leaped gleefully on the apparent rebuttal of the story that UK PPE suppliers were refusing to deliver to Scottish care homes because English ones had the greater need, but before they could sit down, everything changed again.
In the morning Jason Leitch had provided them with the headline they so wanted, but by midday his boss, the FM, was saying something quite different. She said they would be investigating the claims and, ominously:
‘Any situation where supplies were being diverted from one part of the UK to the other without consultation or any sense of co-operation would clearly be unconscionable and unacceptable.’
Remembering the words of Dominic Raab, yesterday, reassuring his English audience that his government was doing its best to make sure that, explicitly English care homes, were getting the equipment they needed, I smelled the casual contempt.
At the time, all we had were Dr Macaskill’s words but we now have more, much more.
First, the First Minister clearly knew that Leitch spoke too soon. She knew something.
Second, Matt Hancock had cancelled his meeting with Jeane Freeman, with no explanation, after she messaged him to warn him that he could not unilaterally divert supplies of this kind as there is a UK-wide agreement.
Third, we have the horrific tsunami of death in the latest ONS statistics for England and Wales, for just last week. Raab and Hancock knew these were coming and like the Tory schoolboys they are, they panicked and reverted to the bullying they remember from their schooldays.
Fourth, we have this astonishing revelation in the Times at 12 noon today:
Major manufacturers of personal protective equipment (PPE) are refusing to send supplies to Scotland because they are prioritising England. The global supply chain is under severe pressure as countries try to protect their frontline health and care workers during the pandemic. Gompels, which is based in Melksham, Wiltshire, has said that it will not supply Scotland or Wales under a contract that it holds with Public Health England. “You must be registered and operating within England — apologies to Wales and Scotland, we are told you have different processes for getting emergency supplies,” its website states.
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We must never forget this. When the going gets tough in this “United Kingdom” Westminster will always put England first.
ALWAYS!
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I recall that Jeane Freeman quickly arranged for Scottish manufacturers to increase supply of PPE.
Overcoming every obstacle Westminster puts in our way is a full time job for Scottish ministers, If only there was a way to mitigate THAT!
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Talking of PPE and on the BBC website but currently hidden under the ‘Health’ section.
Covid Inquiry reported by the BBC on 14 July this year stated this:
Headline “Covid inquiry PPE report – key findings”
“The VIP lane system was introduced in April 2020 in England“
The policy was sharply criticised by (Baroness) Hallett who described it as a “misguided attempt at prioritisation” that “embedded unfairness in emergency procurement”.
“Sharply criticised” , “misguided attempt at prioritisation” and also “unfairness” wow that’s reprimanding them………not.
“While she said there was “no evidence of cronyism or corruption” by ministers or officials when awarding contracts, the system was “inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government”.
“It should never be repeated in any future pandemic, she said”
Is that not a contradiction ?
“no evidence of cronyism or corruption” by ministers or officials when awarding contracts” but “inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government”.
So basically they , the ex Tory ministers, are going to get away with awarding PPE VIP Fast lane contracts to ex Tory politicians , current Tory politicians , donors of , friends of and also family members of those who were Tory Ministers, Tory Lords and Tory MP’s ?
Also the article stated that:
“The report did not include findings on a company called PPE Medpro due to an ongoing criminal investigation into the firm, which is linked to Conservative peer Baroness Michelle Mone via her husband Doug Barrowman”
“PPE Medpro was awarded government PPE contracts worth more than £200m after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers“
(Wait a minute did the Guardian newspaper in 2022 not report on leaked emails that revealed Conservative peer Michelle Mone used private email addresses to lobby Michael Gove and other ministers to secure a £203 million contract for PPE Medpro in 2020. The correspondence indicated that Gove directed her to another minister, prompting Mone to push for the use of the government’s VIP lane) ?
“The company (PPE Medpro) has already been ordered to repay £148m to the government after the High Court found it had breached a contract to supply millions of surgical gowns”
“The National Crime Agency investigation is ongoing, and no charges have been brought so far and both Barrowman and Mone have denied any wrongdoing”.
I urge you to watch on Youtube “The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money” a programme that was originally made by ITV that did not , unlike Baroness Hallett, find that there was ““no evidence of cronyism or corruption” by ministers or officials when awarding contracts“.
The establishment protecting their own – an Inquiry that seems to not want to see any punishment for those who controlled the awarding of VIP Fast lane contracts to those that the Chair of the Inquiry conceded was a case of being “inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government”. (but also not according to her “evidence of cronyism or corruption”).
Rules for some and rules for others……..always within their UK State.
Liz S
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Food supplies, energy, medications, etc, all would be denied to Scotland in any crisis situation, especially where there could be shortages.
Have noticed a lack of some food products lately, and most veg comes form England 😦 it seems…grow your own if you can folks and Scotalnd needs to grow far more produce but I guess much of the land is owned (stolen) by rich non doms etc so…good luck with that Scotland.
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