Defiant Matt Hancock has claimed he would breach the law over Covid contracts again if he was in the same situation. The Health Secretary refused to apologise after a judge ruled he “breached his legal obligation” to publish details of contracts within 30 days. The breach applied to “a substantial number of cases" - 217 out of 520 relevant contracts leading up to October 2020. Labour urged Mr Hancock to deal with allegations of "cronyism" by publishing all the details of outstanding contracts and winding down emergency procurement powers. Surely you can try to get PPE which we were short of, and also ensure your department doesn't break the law."

Source: Daily Mirror February 23, 2021 09:49 UTC