IT'S been one of the biggest questions about the Westminster's handling of the coronavirus crisis — why didn't the UK take part in a Europe-wide PPE (personal protective equipment) scheme?
In March, a spokesperson for Boris Johnson said the UK would not participate in tenders through the Joint Procurement Agreement (JPA) because of Brexit, stating that he UK is "making [its] own efforts" on gloves, lab equipment, ventilators and more.
One month later, Foreign Office head Sir Simon McDonald told MPs that staying out of the scheme was a "political decision" — something he then took back.
Now the minister once dubbed "Raab C Brexit" says the UK missed out on a chance to take part because of an email bungle.
In a letter to Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the UK "did not receive an invitation in time" to participate because the wrong email addresses were used.
Raab says the UK did give up-to-date contact details to the European Commission's re-formed Joint Agreement Procurement Steering Committee (JPSAC) in 2019, but that it sent the relevant information to "previous UK representatives" who had last attended JPSAC three years earlier.
And because of structural changes in the UK Government which saw departments merge and the move to a different email system, those addresses "no longer existed".
Raab said there had been discussions about the JPA at EU meetings in February and March — but the UK didn't attend those because "the UK is no longer a member state and was not invited".
When Westminster officials did have discussions with the European Commission about taking part, it confirmed the UK could do so during the transition period — but it was too late to join the PPE round because the contracts "had already gone out to tender".
Raab said UK Government has now expressed an interest in participating in future schemes, such as those for medicinal products for Covid-19 patients in intensive care and for investigational therapies.
The letter, dated June 26, has been published by the committee today "following inconsistent information" on the matter.
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