Copyright dailyrecord
Michelle Mone faces fresh calls to be booted out of the House of Lords after the disgraced peer was linked to a new scandal involving PPE Medpro. The company, established by Mone's husband Doug Barrowman, owes £39m in unpaid tax on top of the £148m it was previously ordered to repay the UK Government for breaching a contract to supply medical gowns during the covid pandemic. Documents filed this week by PPE Medpro's administrator revealed the figure owed to HMRC. It comes after a court ruled the company breached a contract to supply medical gowns because they did not meet certification requirements for sterility. Keir Starmer previously pledged to the Record "we're not going to give up on the money" when asked if taxpayers would get their cash back. But SNP MP Pete Wishart has now stepped up calls for Mone to loser her peerage as a result of the scandal. "The more we learn about Michelle Mone’s business dealings, the more it becomes clear that she should be nowhere near the House of Lords," he said. "This multi-million pound tax bill, on top of the near £150 million she was ordered to pay back to the government last month, needs to be paid back to the public purse – and she needs to face the consequences of her actions. "With even the Tories now disowning the disgraced peer, the UK Labour Government must now stop dragging its heels and do the right thing by making sure that she no longer has the option of returning to the House of Lords to make laws over our lives." Mone, a former lingerie entrepreneur from Glasgow, had referred PPE Medpro to the then Tory government through its controversial Covid VIP lane in 2020. She later denied any involvement in the firm - but it later emerged she and her husband had benefited from £65m in profits from it. A legal row erupted after the UK Government ordered 25 million sterile gowns from the company at the height of the pandemic which were later found not to meet NHS standards. PPE Medpro argued it had complied with the contract and that the gowns were sterile. The company entered administration on September 30 - the day before a court judgement went against it. Asked by the Record how his Government would get the cash back, Starmer said: "We've been really clear about getting our money back, whether it's Michelle Mone or anybody else, and Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, was very clear about this in opposition. "We intend to get as much of our money back as possible, because that is taxpayers' money and we want it back. And we'll go after every penny of it." Pressed on whether his Government would continue chasing the money, he added: "We're not going to give up on the money, no, absolutely not." The Record previously revealed how Mone had written to Starmer and demanded he end the “vendetta” against her over the PPE Medpro scandal . To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here
