Sarah Owen – 2022 Speech on Government PPE Contracts, Michelle Mone and PPE Medpro

The speech made by Sarah Owen, the Labour MP for Luton North, in the House of Commons on 24 November 2022.

Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)

We have all seen the shameful Guardian front page this morning, but the front page that sticks in my mind is the one showing nurses in bin bags—not PPE on the frontline, but bin bags. This was at a time when Luton Borough Council was facing another cut of £11 million. People are struggling, so why are this Government not lifting a finger to get our money back? They could start by releasing the records after the mediation process.

Neil O’Brien

The hon. Lady’s question takes us back to that extraordinary moment when we had a huge crisis of PPE, and we were desperate and doing every conceivable thing we could to get the PPE that those nurses needed; that is what I have been referring to in my answers this morning. It is just not true that the Government are not lifting a finger to get the money back. We have a process, and there is a substantial team in the Department working on it right now.