Access to Migraine Treatment

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I commend the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Dehenna Davison) on not just bringing this debate, but all the work she has done on raising awareness and campaigning for those who suffer with migraine. Like many, I spent a long time not realising that I was getting migraines. I am very lucky—I do not get migraine very often, and I know I am very fortunate in that, but when I do, I am absolutely floored. I tend to get clusters due to stress, as others have mentioned. I am very fortunate that it does not happen very often, but it took me many years to realise that that was what was happening. I was very lucky that I had a GP who was able to understand what I was saying to them. I now know what my triggers are and what I need to do when it happens. That does not make it any easier to deal with, but at least I know what needs to happen.

It is common for many of us to know what migraine is, but the fact that we have not had a debate about it in this place for so long—even when so many in this Chamber alone are talking about our own personal experiences—says that, even here, it is not something that we want to talk about very often. I give huge thanks to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland for ensuring that we are, and we definitely need to do so more often.

We have heard from others how prevalent the condition is, but we still fall so far short in addressing its stigmatising nature. We have heard others say, “It’s just a headache”, and that it is easy to look past. I suppose I was very lucky that, in one of my earliest jobs, my boss suffered from migraines, so there was a level of understanding there. But that was just fortunate circumstance, and we need to have much clearer opportunities for anyone suffering from this condition.

There has definitely been improvement, albeit the waiting times for treatment in Scotland, England and Wales are lengthening, according to the figures put out by the Migraine Trust. We all need to be doing better in that sense, but the Scottish Government are certainly supporting a very high standard in migraine care, with 86% of health boards giving access to the CGRP blockers. That is welcome, but we cannot rest until that is 100% everywhere, and we certainly cannot be complacent.

We know that migraine attacks can signify impact on all aspects of a person’s life, as we have heard, and there is so much more that we could do. We have heard about CGRP blockers, which are one medication, but there are others. I have personally done some work looking into the potential for alternatives like psilocybin, about which we have had some debates previously in this place. I think it was last June, or thereabouts, that I met Professor Jo Neill at the University of Manchester, who highlighted some of the challenges that it faces simply in trying to research the potential for psilocybin. It is still classed as a schedule 1 drug, like crack cocaine or heroin, so the blocks to simply researching what is possible are a massive hurdle to moving forward what could be a significant and useful treatment for many people. As we have heard, not all treatments work for all people, and everybody will have the thing that works best for them. A vast body of research exists, but again, so much more could be done. I ask the Government to consider again what more they could do about those blocks in particular to make research slightly more straightforward, so that we can all have a much better understanding of what is possible.

There are glimmers of hope, and the Centre for Sustainable Delivery has published the “National Headache Pathway”, which will help to drive standards further in migraine care across the NHS, certainly in Scotland. The SNP continues to push the UK Government on the right for flexible working. There is a right to request flexible working in legislation; we think that it should be a right, not simply a request. A Migraine Trust report called “Heading in the wrong direction” said that there should be greater awareness of the pathways that exist for managing migraines, and revealed that half of Scottish health boards said that

“they had undertaken work to review their headache and migraine pathways.”

Again, that is encouraging, but a half is only a half—it is still not enough. As I have mentioned, Scotland was found to have the best access to medication, but more still needs to be done. The Migraine Trust report said:

“There are less than 80 GPs with Special Interest…for headache and migraine across the UK”.

That is simply not enough. People are very lucky if they find one with that understanding, but given that we are talking about universal healthcare, 80 GPs across the isles of the UK is nowhere near enough.

Robert Music, the chief executive of the Migraine Trust, said:

“Not only are patients struggling, but poor management of migraine is putting unnecessary additional strain on an already struggling NHS. We are seeing rising A&E admissions for migraine across the UK. There is a shortage of GPs, consultants and nurses specialising in headache to meet the need that we know exists, and a broad lack of understanding of the condition, meaning patients are not being treated in the right place or at the right time, if at all.”

That is simply not good enough for any of us, and we need to be pushing. I hope debates such as this help to raise that awareness, show that this is a very serious condition and that we need to be doing so much more. Dr Brendan Davies, the chairman of the British Association for the Study of Headache and consultant neurologist at Royal Stoke University Hospital, said,

“Migraine is the most common of all the neurological disorders yet is vastly under-recognised. The time has come for a nationally agreed educational framework and quality standard for primary care, as we have with other important long-term conditions.”

As I and my party persistently advocate for enhancing devolved powers, it will be no surprise to anyone present that we would like to see further devolution of employment powers, so that we can address the issues previously mentioned on employment and flexible working options. While not addressing treatment, that would at least help individuals to best manage their condition in a way that works for them. If we could all look to identify the best treatments, it would be beneficial not just to the individuals but to the economy.

Each passing day that the Government neglect to use their reserved powers to address workplace changes underscores the need for us to be able to make these decisions in Scotland. I hope I will hear something positive from the Minister. Everyone in here is coming from the same place; we recognise that while a great deal has been done, significantly more can be done. It is on all of us to embrace and take forward this challenge. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response on what steps we could take both immediately and in the longer term, and I once again commend the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland on bringing today’s debate.

Cancer Medicines: Appraisals

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Tuesday 13th June 2023 Westminster Hall

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Harris. I commend the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on securing this important debate. I will do my best to follow the two previous contributions from the hon. Members for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) and for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) about their personal experience. I cannot contribute to the debate in that way, but I will do what I can.

All our lives have been touched by cancer in one way or another. We all know someone whose life has been changed in some way by the disease. Therefore the appraisal of cancer medicines is of the utmost importance to us all. These medicines give hope and, indeed, life to so many. Yet even something as vital as the evaluation and distribution of cancer medicines did not escape the upheaval of Brexit. The UK ended its membership of the EU three years ago, and that catastrophe, which Scotland did not want, meant that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency withdrew from the European Medicines Agency. While immediate disruption to patient care was avoided, there have been shortages across the board since Brexit.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium—if I mention it again, it will be easier to say SMC—must review and recommend a new medicine before it can be prescribed on the NHS for routine use. This would take place after a medicine has received a marketing authorisation from the MHRA. The SMC advises and provides recommendations to NHS Scotland. This due diligence must be carried out by medical professionals to ensure everyone’s safety. The Scottish Government remain concerned about the effect of Brexit on the authorisation of medicines, as medicines obviously play a crucial role in the NHS. The authorisation and appraisal of medicines also have a key role in the Scottish Government’s commitment to supporting people to live longer, healthier lives. Diagnosing and treating cancer are a priority for the Scottish Government, which is why they are investing £40 million over five years to support cancer services.

However, the NHS in Scotland has finite resources, and medicines are the second largest item of expenditure for NHS Scotland, so difficult choices have to be made. A number of factors need to be looked at. For example, what benefits does the medicine offer compared with other available treatments? Other factors include the quality of life and amount of extra life that may be gained by patients using the new medicine, how the medicine is administered and whether it will save money later on. Those are all examples of the considerations that have to be included when coming to decisions.

Despite UK Government vows to make the MHRA faster and nimbler, we remain concerned about budget and staff cuts to the organisation. There is also a question about the so-called light-touch approach to authorising generic medicines and relying heavily on approvals from larger regulators in the EU and US. The Financial Times reported that the need for cuts at the MHRA has been driven partly by Brexit and the loss of millions of pounds of annual income from its role in authorising medicines in the EU. There has also been a contraction in UK Government funding after the MHRA was subsumed into the budget of the Department of Health and Social Care, as far as I can see.

The hon. Member for Strangford referred to the payback rate of 26%. That is another thing we must not lose sight of. Two very large pharmaceutical companies have already withdrawn from the voluntary scheme as a result of the increase to the rate, which they claim is now punitive. Any further withdrawals from the scheme will surely only have impacts on patients—the people we all want to be doing everything we can to support.

According to recent research by the Nuffield Trust, although the UK Government and pharmaceutical industry averted immediate disruption to patient care from difficulties in the supply of medicines after leaving the single market, there has been a great level of shortages. A review by Imperial College Business School revealed that fewer novel drugs were authorised by the MHRA in 2021—its first year of independence—than by the European Medicines Agency; the UK saw the approval of 35 drugs, compared with 40 in Europe and 52 in the US. That goes back to the points about the availability of medicines and the options that that then makes available to doctors and their patients. Any reform of the regulatory framework must ensure that patients have a voice; their lived experience must inform regulatory decisions. That is where we can all play our part—by relating the experiences that are brought to us.

A cancer diagnosis can be a heartrending and life-changing event, but it can bring positives, and we can all learn from the experiences of those who have gone through it. We need to do everything we can not to add to that heartache by allowing standards to drop or by creating more red tape that stops people getting the medicines they so urgently need.

Brexit casts a long shadow and it has impacted on this area, so we must ensure that there is no withdrawal from the current EU standards or safety controls on medication. It is in all our interests to ensure that we support the development and appraisal of new medicines. We owe that to all our constituents and none more so than those affected by cancer.

[Carolyn Harris (in the Chair)]

I call the shadow Minister.

Covid-19: PPE Procurement

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Neil O'Brien]

As I said, 90% of them did not get a contract, so it was not that they were being given some sort of guarantee of a contract. That scheme was a way of managing the contacts that were happening with Ministers. They were being directly contacted by MPs from across the House and all sides of it. There had to be a way of understanding what was happening with each of those bids, because otherwise it would have been completely overwhelmed. To reiterate: all the bids went through exactly the same process—not done by Ministers, but by civil servants—of checking the quality, the price and whether they could realistically deliver. There was no difference in the process that they went through.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

These are issues that many Opposition Members in particular have been raising for a long time. My Ministerial Interests (Public Appointments) Bill, now in its third iteration, has its Second Reading next Friday. Given the current situation, and given that my Bill would help to address some of the issues of transparency, can the Minister assure me that the Government will now incorporate that into their programme?

[Neil O’Brien]

I will look closely at all the suggestions that the hon. Member makes. I have not had a chance to look at the Bill, but I am sure that we are always in the market for constructive ideas.

Covid-19: Purchasing Effort

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

That was a dexterous way of weaving together PPE and vaccines, but my hon. Friend is right to pay tribute to the amazing work done by the vaccine taskforce and by officials and others across Government in meeting the needs of our population during the pandemic. Of course I join him in welcoming the Novavax vaccine and the opportunities it presents for wonderful Teesside.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I do not think anyone in this Chamber has said, at any point, that things should not have moved quickly to secure PPE. Nobody, on this side at least, has said that this should involve the use of a VIP lane, crony contracts or contracts for pals. I am sure that the Minister will say that all these allegations are entirely unfounded, and I understand his point of view on that. Given that, will he put Government backing behind my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill, to ensure that such actions could not happen in the future without this House being made fully aware of them?

[Edward Argar]

I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman for, as ever, dextrously mentioning his Bill. I think he has done that to me once before when I have been at the Dispatch Box discussing similar issues. I am sure that Ministers, and indeed the Leader of the House, will read it very carefully.

Randox Covid Contracts

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 17th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I do not intend to detain the House for long. Many of the main issues of focus have been discussed. Looking at the state that this Government have got themselves into, we could be forgiven for thinking that we are somewhere towards a descent into a kakistocracy, because this is a Government of the least able—the very worst that a society has to offer. If those in power abusing that power for private and personal gain does not represent the worst of society, I do not know what does.

Let us remind ourselves of the content of the misconduct, because we have seen parts of it before: lobbying for the awarding of contracts through an exclusive VIP channel without competition or transparency, a channel where one in 10 offers were successful compared with just 0.7% through the normal channels. It is the same process that locked tens of thousands of experienced suppliers out of the procurement process for lifesaving equipment, in favour of the likes of jewellery companies, vermin control companies and the then Health Secretary’s pub landlord.

I have lost count of how many times we have been here before. What we are discussing today is one part of a bigger trend, a culture that does not see any value in transparency and openness. In a debate where many had hoped for greater transparency, I think we have actually seen a bit more muddying of the waters from those on the Government Benches. It is worth saying—forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the plug, even though the time for it has passed—but if the Government had actually supported my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill last year, we could have been in a much more open place today. Instead, the Government have been dragged kicking and screaming to reveal what companies have benefited from this kind of corruption—that is what it is, at the bottom—from the £20.3 million going to Tim Horlick of Ayanda Capital to the £45.7 million going to Banks Bourne of Tanner Pharma. Fat cats benefit from corruption and it is transparency that stamps it out.

[Alexander Stafford]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Owen Thompson]

Yes, please.

[Alexander Stafford]

If the hon. Gentleman is using that definition of corruption, does it apply to the £500 million-worth of contracts given out by the SNP Government in Scotland to companies without any competition? I am confused. On the one hand, the SNP Government in Scotland are giving out half a billion pounds-worth of contracts without any competition, but on the other hand the UK Government are doing something similar and that is corrupt. Either they are both corrupt or neither are corrupt—I am a bit confused.

[Owen Thompson]

I am eternally grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that contribution. He tried to make exactly the same point before and I think that this was pointed out to him. The key difference—the Minister herself said this—is that in a global pandemic steps need to be taken and everybody recognised that steps needed to be taken that are not necessarily in line with the normal process, but the UK Government employed a VIP lane open to Government Ministers and members of the Government party that was not open to anybody else. Contracts were handed out through personal contacts, WhatsApp exchanges and paid lobbyists for companies. That is the key fundamental difference here and I am so grateful that the hon. Gentleman gave me a chance to again highlight that point. [Interruption.] If he wants to try again, I am more than happy. [Interruption.] Okay.

It is very easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day melodrama of this saga, but it is important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The real scandal is not that a couple of bad eggs broke the rules; it is that the system either consistently enables rule-breaking or completely lacks rules against this kind of behaviour. For instance, take the fact that the Government were completely within their constitutional rights to retro- spectively change the rules to let Owen Paterson off the hook. In what other system would that be acceptable? The system of government here works to enable corruption, not to constrain it, precisely because it gives the Government a blank check to make up the rules as they go along. The absence of a written constitution to constrain Governments means that this can keep happening over and over again, as it did in the ‘90s and ‘00s. If they do not like the rules that are currently there, they can just rip them up and put in new ones.

So the problem here is not bad eggs, it is the system. It is the fact that no UK Government can ever be accountable to anything but themselves. Parliamentary supremacy means that any Government can override past decisions. They can rewrite the rules to their own liking. It is no wonder that Brexiteers obsessed over it in 2016, because it is what has given them the green light to conduct themselves in the ways we are discussing today. The only thing that can ever constrain a Government is political pressure, which thankfully in this situation has worked, but that is an awfie shoogly peg to base your system of government on.

For that reason, this is not the first time that corruption has reared its ugly head in this place. Sadly, I doubt it will be the last time either. The very way that this Parliament is set up lends itself to allowing this to happen. If we do not change it, nothing will change it. I am under no illusion that this scandal will lead to some dramatic new system of government rising from the ashes like a phoenix—I cannot see it—but that is on the table in Scotland. Independence means we could have a written constitution that can guarantee in law that Governments are held accountable and transparency is guaranteed.

Openness and transparency benefits all of us in this place. It is in all of our interests to make sure that that is at the top of the agenda. Our constituents demand that and it should be our duty to make sure that they get that. Public servants should be here to represent their communities, not to line their pockets. Sadly, the lining of pockets has far too often recently been what has been on the table.

Covid-19 Update

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

On the last question, I can certainly give my hon. Friend the assurance that in education or in any public buildings this will not be applicable. As to things such as the transport system or essential retail, that is our very strong commitment. Look, I keep repeating this message, but we know what we need to do. Part of what we are learning from the data here and around the world is about trying to work with industries, such as the nightclub industry and sports bodies, to make sure that we reopen fully as safely as possible and continue to be open. The worst thing for any industry or for any sport is to open and then, sadly, to have to shut down again, as people have seen around the world.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I listened very carefully to the Minister when he was saying that, for events where large numbers are likely to gather together and be mixing with people from outside their own household, deploying the pass would be the right thing to do. Given that, and to ensure that we keep in step with the public, do the Government intend that to apply here? Might they even reserve the right to mandate the adoption of the pass in this place, or is this another example of us and them?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question. As I said in answer to the previous question, in public buildings such as this place, and of course in essential travel and essential retail, that will not be applicable. That is very clear.

Covid-19: Contracts and Public Inquiry

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 7th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)]

It is kind of a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Inverclyde (Ronnie Cowan). His tieless, sedentary, relaxed demeanour contrasted somewhat with the demeanour of the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford), who I admire and respect, because when I intervened on him and raised the issue of the very widespread levels of covid currently pertaining in Scotland, it is fair to say that he did not react with what I would describe as calm statesmanship.

Only two days ago, The Scotsman, no less, had as one of its headlines the question, “Why does Scotland have the highest covid rates in Europe?” That is a fundamental question.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

indicated dissent.

[James Cartlidge]

If the hon. Gentleman wishes to intervene and defend that, he is more than welcome to the chance. He will not defend it; well, there is a surprise. [Interruption.] Come on then, why does Scotland have the highest rates in Europe?

[Owen Thompson]

Of course, The Scotsman is well known to be a great supporter of the Scottish National party; the hon. Gentleman might want to have a look at that. The Scottish Government do not have control of our borders. The delta variant has come in and has created so many of these cases. That is outwith the control of the Scottish Government, who are doing everything they possibly can to bring them down.

[James Cartlidge]

That is unbelievable. Scotland has the highest covid rates in Europe. The SNP is governing in Scotland and it will take not a shred of responsibility for this situation.

[Owen Thompson]

rose—

[James Cartlidge]

I might give the hon. Gentleman another turn, but let us just put some facts on the table.

In June, 2,000 people in Scotland who tested positive for covid had attended a Euro 2021 event. I am no killjoy. I am quite happy that they attended. I will be attending a Euro 2021 event tonight to watch England vs Denmark. I am quite happy that many thousands of Scots made the journey to London to watch that game, in which their team performed admirably—far better than we did. The idea that the Scottish Government had no power in this matter is ludicrous. If they really thought that this variant was such a concern and that we should have closed the borders, they should not have allowed people to come down in their thousands. The evidence shows that those people are now super-spreaders of covid in Scotland. The hon. Gentleman should not pretend that the Scottish Government had no power in this matter.

Having said all that, I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, who has now returned to the Chamber, for introducing this debate about covid contracts, because it gives me the opportunity to talk about two covid contracts that are far more important than all the other guff we have heard today. Those contracts are, first, the contract that this Government—indeed, my right hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock)—signed with AstraZeneca to procure a vaccine, along with all the other ones that we took a risk on procuring before the rest of the EU. That has brought liberty to millions and saved the lives of thousands, for which we should all be grateful.

The second contract is one that we will not find a copy of, and there was no procurement for it, but again it is of fundamental importance: it is the social contract that exists between the Government and the governed on the basis of when we are expected to give up our precious rights because an emergency exists and when—the key question for me—those rights should be returned because the emergency has passed: a fundamental point given the Prime Minister’s statement on Monday.

The first contract was the generic process through which the UK Department of Health and Social Care negotiated contracts for those vaccines and delivered them in a way exceeding almost all other major nations, delivering millions and millions of doses. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Angus (Dave Doogan) for saying in his intervention that that was the one thing the Government got right, but, boy, that one thing is more important than anything else: it is the way out of the mess; it is the way we get out of lockdown; it is the ways we save millions of lives. And it is not just lives in the United Kingdom that are being saved; it is not just lives in every corner of this precious Union. The AstraZeneca vaccine contract was negotiated so it would be produced at cost. The significance of that enormous contractual point is that the vaccine has been spread around the developing world. We have seen 400 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines go into the arms of the poorest in the world. We should be incredibly proud of that. This Government have an incredibly honourable record in what has passed.

Covid was one of the greatest crises the world has faced; it was completely unprecedented, and every time we have had to make a choice we have been between a rock and a hard place, but the only way out of it, as we all knew, was through vaccines, and we made the right call at the right time, which no other Government in Europe made at that point, and we should be proud of that contract, and it is far more important than all the other stuff mentioned today.

On the second point, the social contract, this is my first opportunity to respond to the enormous announcement we heard on Monday—one I am so grateful for—that we will be returning to normal, restoring our precious freedoms. I believe in the social contract; it is implicit—we all have our own interpretation of it—but at its heart must be the idea that Government have certain powers but they can only use them in exceptional circumstances, if those circumstances are truly an emergency.

Tonight, as I said, thousands—millions—of people around part of the Union will be going to watch a football match. They will be crowded in pubs. The idea that we are still in an emergency is for the birds, and that is because of medical science, and I am profoundly grateful; it is because of the first part of the contract that I spoke about, but because of that we must start taking decisions that restore freedom and return this country back to normal.

I understand that some people are nervous, because I have had emails from constituents who voted in all ways for all parties—and in all ways in the referendum, in case anyone tries to make that link. Some people are still nervous; they worry and think we should still have to wear masks after 19 July and that the Government should still keep measures on. I have no idea where the Labour party stands on this; as far as I can see, they want us to remain in lockdown, but, as the Prime Minister said, if not now, when? Let me answer that: if not now, it is never, because the whole point of the social contract is that if we allow the state to keep that power for too long, it will not come back. The default disposition of the state must be that its citizens are free and that they are only not free in exceptional circumstances, and I believe those circumstances have now passed, and that is because of the vaccine; there are still high numbers of cases, but they are generally not resulting in significant ill health, and because of that we can unlock this lock- down.

--- Later in debate ---

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I associate myself with some of the comments made by the hon. Member for Bury South (Christian Wakeford), particularly in relation to the work being done by his twin brother and all those working on the frontline, for which we all share a great deal of respect.

I am delighted that my party has made time available today to discuss the scandal of the way in which covid-19 emergency contracts have been dished out by this Government. We have seen the Prime Minister make an artform of stripping away the processes that protect fairness and transparency, all under the cover of the pandemic. The justification has tended to be the same across the board—it has to be done in a hurry—but how far can that stretch?

I have no doubt that procuring goods at speed and scale was a challenge, and there are clearly things that had to be done to make sure it could be undertaken, but justifying the bypassing of due process in the early days is not a catch-all or an excuse for the growing list of questionable contract decisions that were not open to a competitive tender process.

The sense of right and wrong did not go out of the window when the covid virus came in. There must always be time for proper scrutiny of money spent from the public purse, and the Government must always be available to answer for their decisions. Perhaps the Government will tell us today whether the VIP channels that were so roundly criticised earlier in the pandemic are still operating today, who knew about them, who was on them or where we can find out more about them. It is only through the National Audit Office that we know the fast-track channels existed and that they vastly increased the chances of successfully landing a contract. Of over 15,000 suppliers, just 400 went through the VIP lane and one in 10 of them received a contract, compared with 0.7% of those that went through normal channels. I have plenty of talented and deserving constituents in Midlothian who would have been delighted to have that opportunity to have a leg up through a VIP channel and get a comfy Government contract, but that door was not open to them: it stayed firmly shut, unless a person happened to rub shoulders with the right people in the corridors of power. Details of those channels were certainly not advertised in the Government’s guidance, and many people—including medical professionals with invaluable experience of the NHS—were not even aware that they existed.

There is room for a fast track; I do not deny that. If it is an emergency, we need to look at new ways of doing things, but it is absolutely absurd that having connections to a party of Government is the criterion that is required to be on that fast-track list. This should slow things down, not get a person to the front of the queue. There are too many serious allegations of cronyism coming out now for this to be simply brushed aside or written off as a mere coincidence. Transparency International UK has so far found contracts worth over £3.7 billion—one in five—between February and November 2020 that raised red flags. According to its report, the Government displayed

“apparent systemic biases in the award of PPE contracts that favoured those with political connections to the party of government in Westminster”.

There is an ever-growing roll call of examples of apparent cronyism coming from the excellent investigative journalism of organisations such as Byline Times, openDemocracy and others, and we have already seen successful litigation from the Good Law Project over delays in publishing contract award notices. The more we dig, the dirtier it looks, and the emergency excuse for bypassing due process begins to wear a little thin when it is used for contracts with little to do with frontline emergency, such as the £500,000 awarded illegally to Public First—old colleagues and pals of the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Dominic Cummings, of course.

Nor does the speed argument explain those early contracts being given to companies with such little experience in the field, when a wealth of other suppliers had put offers in. Can the Government tell us now why crucial contracts for life-saving protection went to a Florida-based jewellery company, or to a wholesaler of sweets with no obvious experience of supplying PPE? What made the tiny vermin control operation PestFix, valued at just £19,000, the best-placed company to provide a vital £32 million for isolation suits, and why did the former Health Secretary’s neighbour and pub landlord get a £30 million contract for producing plastic vials following a few chats on WhatsApp? The Greensill scandal and the Dyson scandal demonstrate that this is a Government that are overseeing a culture of taxpayers’ money being dished out through informal back channels removed from public scrutiny. If the Government have nothing to hide, I would again ask why they did not back my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill in the last term of this Parliament. We accept the need for speed, but that does not mean we cannot ask questions after the event.

Week after week at business questions, I have requested Government time to debate many of these serious concerns about the openness and transparency of the Government, but those concerns are dismissed. In one response, the Leader of the House put on his best poker face and assured me that

“We have in this country one of the most honest public sectors of any country in the world.”—[Official Report, 25 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 1096.]

It is unfortunate that that does not always appear to extend to all within Government. If that is the case, the public sector is badly being let down by the Government and their culture of secrecy. This Government claim that they cannot find support for the 3 million excluded, nor can they afford to pay a decent pay rise to the NHS, yet they found a staggering, jaw-dropping £37 billion for private companies with connections to power to run a test and protect system that does not yet work properly, with consultants earning £1,000 a day. This is a system in which we now know—thanks, again, to the efforts of the Good Law Project—that yet another VIP lane existed. It is an absolute scandal.

The Government may claim that people do not care about these contracts issues because they do not affect them, but they do: people see what is going on, and they will be scunnered by it all. When faith and trust in democracy is lost, we are all lost. If the Government are innocent on all charges—except, of course, the ones on which they have already been found guilty—they need the public inquiry into covid contracts to press ahead now, not next year after the heat has gone from the issue. We need to have clear channels through which to scrutinise Government actions and hold the Executive to account. Standards in public life are the foundation on which democratic institutions are built, and we need systems with which to root out anyone in public office who puts profit for themselves, their partners or their pals before the public good. If corruption is ignored, it will fester: the small cracks will become fissures, and the very foundations of our democracy will crumble.

The Government remain far too blasé in response to allegations of cronyism and this cannot go unchecked. Like the ancient Romans, perhaps they still believe themselves to be untouchable and answering to no one, especially not those outwith their VIP circles, but if they let the rot set in, the public will soon lose trust in their leadership. If they do not stand up for decency, democracy and high standards in public life, we may be watching our current modern-day Nero see the end.

Coronavirus

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I will be relatively brief, recognising that the public health motion relates to English covid public health regulations, and address most of my comments to the second motion. However, I think it is worth noting and picking up on a number of the comments made by the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) and other Members in relation to the outlook beyond covid.

Next week, the Scottish Government will publish a paper setting out what they hope life after covid will look like as we get back to something like normal and the remaining restrictions begin to be removed. None of us wants to see the restrictions in place any longer than they have to be, but while there is a risk to public health, we need to be very careful. The Scottish Government have been very, very minded to focus on the data, not the dates. I have to say that there seems to be quite a marked difference in the approach between the two Governments, given such a focus on freedom days and terminus dates all having to be attached to a particular date, rather than just looking at what the data actually tells us. As I say, none of us wants to see restrictions any longer than we need them, but while there is still a risk we must continue. The vaccine roll-out has been spectacular —nobody can deny that—but there are still so many people we need to continue to protect.

Turning to the second motion, I very much welcome the inclusion of the motion to extend virtual proceedings. It would have been unreasonable, when there is an extension for the general public, not to have extended such provisions in this place. Many times over the course of the past year and a bit, we have heard how we need to make sure that this place keeps step with the general public. I suggest that keeping step with the general public also means that we continue to look at what steps we can take to enhance that ability in this place as we go forward, as workplaces across the country will be doing. They are looking at different ways of working, and at adopting new and different ways to encourage participation from all. I fear that at some stage we may again be at a place where we are disenfranchising some Members. With this extension, we have perhaps given ourselves the opportunity to re-examine some of the points on medical proxy voting. There are some Members with very particular medical situations that are unique to them where a case could very strongly be made that a proxy vote would be appropriate on a longer-term basis than has been outlined. I am not saying that we should be putting in place something that makes it easier for a Minister to be given a proxy to be able to avoid a vote just because it suits. This is about a very particular set of situations where a specific number of Members have unique circumstances, and we need to take account of them.

I raised this point yesterday when the motions were presented. Given the variability in the virus and the changes of circumstances that can happen, and by the nature of the fact that we have had to have an extension at this point, I fear that having an end date at the start of a recess and effectively coming back in September with no opportunity in advance to consider what may or may not need to be done at that stage puts us in a slightly unusual situation. Should the situation arise in September where we need to do something else, this place will have to return in full numbers to effectively decide whether or not we want to have any further restrictions. I urge caution on that and ask for consideration as to how that could be managed, because I think that would be a particular anomaly. As I say, workplaces across the country are looking at how they can adapt, so why would we not? I think it is appropriate. Given the number of Members looking to speak in the debate, I will restrict my comments to that.

Coronavirus

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

I would like to associate myself with the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Martyn Day), who made some important points, particularly about what we do and do not do to tackle the importing of variants from overseas and about the chance that it could undermine some of the efforts we are making here and the success of the vaccine programme. Unlike my hon. Friend, I have not been lucky enough yet to have my blue envelope. Sadly, I still have some time to wait—in other senses, of course, that is a positive—but I am happy to do so, in the full knowledge that the vaccine is being rolled out to those who really need it. The success on that has to be very much welcomed across the board.

For much of my time, I would like to speak about the focus that we need to have on virtual proceedings. I acknowledge the comment from the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg) that the Procedure Committee recently published a report saying that its majority view was that it wants to return to normal as soon as possible, but it was a majority view—it was not unanimous—and a number of us on the Committee would like to see what can be done to consider any positives that we can take from virtual participation. I certainly welcome what the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Karen Bradley) said about comments by the Prime Minister that that will be looked at, which back up comments previously made to the Committee by the Leader of the House.

There are positives that we can take forward from virtual participation in proceedings, and simple measures such as pass readers have benefited a lot of the work that goes on here, but it is important to highlight that there has been a distinct lack of opportunity for the House to debate a lot of these processes. Too often, it has been a “nod or nothing” motion—a take it or leave it. If we want any virtual participation at all, we have had to accept what is in the motion, and there has not been the opportunity to debate, to amend and to consider what else would be possible.

Finally, I appreciate that no amendments are being taken today, but perhaps the Minister will take account of my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill. It would not put any restriction on the Government’s ability to act quickly when issuing contracts relating to the pandemic. However, it would put in place a mechanism whereby, if there was a connection and there were some of the issues that have been highlighted in the press, there would be an opportunity after the event for Parliament to scrutinise, to question and to make sure that full transparency was available, so that it could have absolute confidence that those contracts had been awarded in an appropriate manner. The Bill would not slow anything down, and if the Government have nothing to fear, they have nothing to hide.

Covid Contracts: Judicial Review

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Edward Argar]

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend, about both the Government’s commitment to transparency and to publishing contracts within the regulations, and in reminding everyone about where we were a little under a year ago, and the absolute focus by so many amazing and dedicated civil servants on getting the PPE we needed and getting it in quantity.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP) [V]]

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says in its “Recover with Integrity” campaign that emergency responses

“must be anchored in law and be implemented by strong public institutions, with the involvement and under the oversight of members of parliament, anti-corruption bodies, civil society and the private sector.”

It is clear that hon. Members have numerous questions on these contracts, so will the Minister now advocate such action as backing my Ministerial Interests (Emergency Powers) Bill to make sure that Parliament can scrutinise the Government’s actions and that Members of this House and the public can be confident that there is no suggestion of any corruption taking root?

[Edward Argar]

I would rebut any suggestion that there is any corruption taking root, to use the hon. Gentleman’s words. Members of this House have the ability to ask questions and the NAO has the ability to ask questions. The hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) will, I suspect, ask me a question in a moment, but she also has the ability to ask questions in the Public Accounts Committee, which she chairs, which, I believe, took evidence for three and a half hours in December from various senior officials in the Department. I am aware of the hon. Gentleman’s Bill, which I am sure the Government will look at in the usual way.