Almost £1 Billion of British Taxpayer’s Cash Spent on PPE from China

Almost £1Billion of British taxpayers’ money has been spent on Chinese PPE supplies an analysis report has claimed, even including supplies from Wuhan.

A new report has been made public that shows almost a £1 billion of taxpayers’ money was spent on PPE from China. Nearly 90 contracts were signed with Chinese firms, worth £900million, and this figure could pass the £1 billion mark as more lucrative contracts get published. Critics have been outraged at such huge sums of the British taxpayer’s money going to a country that has been unofficially blamed for being the source of the current coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak of the pandemic saw a mad rush by UK officials to buy PPE items from Chinese companies, for the NHS, such as gowns, aprons and gloves, and with some ventilators coming from Wuhan, with two firms in Shenzen and Beijing alone having contracts worth £92million and almost £100million.

Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation, who treated PM Boris Johnson back in April, reportedly spent £30million on eye shields, goggles, gloves, ventilators and respirators.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, was quoted at the height of the pandemic that he would “stop at nothing” to protect NHS staff.

Craig Tiedman, from the Henry Jackson Society, think tank, said, “Given China’s role in the mass outbreak of this disease, many taxpayers will feel it to be a rum deal that Chinese firms stand to benefit to the tune of millions in Government contracts”.

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