By Rachel Amery
Copyright scotsman
Thousands have signed a petition launched by Covid bereaved families to have Michelle Mone thrown out of the House of Lords. On Wednesday PPE Medpro was ordered to repay almost £122 million to the UK Government for breaching a contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic. The company is led by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman. PPE Medpro was awarded the government contract after Baroness Mone recommended the move to ministers. The SNP has since called for Baroness Mone to be stripped of her peerage and banished from the House of Lords. Baroness Mone, who was made a peer by former Conservative prime minister David Cameron in 2015, is currently on leave from the House of Lords but is still able to claim expenses at the cost of taxpayers. Read The Steamie – our dedicated politics newsletter Almost 6,000 people have now signed a petition launched by Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK to have Baroness Mone removed from the House of Lords. The Bereaved Families for Justice group said: “Michelle Mone’s continued place in the House of Lords is a slap in the face to every family who lost someone during the pandemic. “While NHS staff were risking their lives, companies she helped secure contracts for were supplying unsafe PPE at a cost of £122m to the public. “For bereaved families, her continued presence in parliament insults the memory of those who died and highlights the lack of accountability for the profiteering and failures that cost lives.” Peers can only be removed from the House of Lords by an act of parliament.
