At the end of April, Rachel Reeves sent a letter to Michael Gove with a less than helpful list of proposed PPE suppliers, from a small private legal practice to an events company that hosts corporate day experiences. Aside from addressing her letter to the wrong department (it’s Health and Social Care, not Cabinet Office that deals with PPE procurement), Reeves’ Del Boy list of suppliers, there was another snag to the story.

In her letter, Reeves claimed she was speaking to firms who “have contacted the Government to offer to do so, but have heard nothing back.” A detailed reply from the Government reveals half of them had not contacted the Government at all, despite Reeves’ claims.

“The annex to your letter of 22 April listed 35 companies or individuals which you suggested “have the capacity to manufacture Personal Protective Equipment and have contacted the government to offer to do so”. Unfortunately, we had no record of contact via our webform or Ministerial correspondence teams, either in the Cabinet Office or Department of Health and Social Care, from 17 of those you listed.”

Ouch. Labour’s ‘try to be helpful’ act is not going to plan…

Read Michael Gove’s reply in full here…