Government told to publish meetings with Tory-linked firms

Chancellor Rishi Sunak (L) and prime minister Boris Johnson leave 10 Downing Street - Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Labour has written to the cabinet secretary asking him to publish details on meetings with Tory-linked firms that have secured contracts during the pandemic.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves last week revealed she had written to 10 firms with connections to the Conservative Party awarded contracts during the coronavirus crisis in a bid to unveil their profit levels.

Reeves has now asked Simon Case to disclose details of meetings between these companies and government departments in the past year, according to Labour.

She also requested details of all people present at the meetings, including ministers, MPs, special advisers, civil servants and Conservative Party staff members.

“As outlined, to restore transparency and public trust, this information is extremely important,” she said in the letter.

Research unveiled by Labour last week suggests the value of contracts awarded to companies with connections to the Tories amounts to almost £2 billion.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has also written to Conservative Party co-chairwoman Amanda Milling seeking similar information on such meetings.

It comes after a High Court challenge into the government’s decision to hire a firm with links to the prime minister’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.

Campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to research firm Public First and questioned the involvement of Cummings.

Rival arguments were considered at a virtual High Court hearing on Monday and a ruling is set to be delivered on a date yet to be fixed.

Following the hearing on Monday, Reeves wrote to Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and minister for the Cabinet Office, and urged him to provide more information about Government contracts.