AN SNP MP has exposed Matt Hancock's "cronyism" in the House of Commons as UK ministers continue to defend the Health Secretary.

Hannah Bardell, the SNP MP for Livingstone, asked Health Minister Edward Argar about roughly £30 million worth of contract work that was awarded to the Health Secretary's former neighbour.

Argar was responding to questions about the High Court ruling that Hancock's department acted unlawfully in failing to publish details of billions of pounds' worth of coronavirus-related contracts within the required time.

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It was revealed by The Guardian last week that Alex Bourne, a former pub landlord and neighbour of Hancock, is now under investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The lucrative contract saw Bourne's company, Hinpack, produce tens of millions of vials for the NHS from its production site on an industrial potato farm complex in Cambridgeshire.

Prior to the pandemic, Hinpack made plastic cups and takeaway boxes for the catering industry.

Bardell said: "Can the minister tell me if it is coincidence, incompetence or just rank stupidity that his government and Health Secretary awarded a £30m contract for testing vials to the Health Secretary's former neighbour who was a former pub landlord and had no experience in this field and is now being investigated by the MHRA. 

"Surely he agrees that these breaches mean the Health Secretary must resign?"

She later wrote on Twitter: "Hard to tell if it’s coincidence, incompetence or rank stupidity that led the Health Secretary and his Tory Gov to award a £30m contract for testing vials to his former neighbour, a pub landlord with no experience, who is now being investigated by the MHRA.

"But in any even [sic] I got no answers and the usual avoidance by a Tory Gov who broke the law."

Argar heaped praise on Hancock in his response to Bardell, saying: "The honourable lady will not be surprised to know that I completely and utterly disagree with her. I think my right honourable friend has done and continues to do an extraordinary job under extraordinary pressure over the past year to help this country through this pandemic.

"She raised a very specific issue and it has been made clear that the Health Secretary and no other minister had any involvement in the assessment, due diligence or any decision in respect of that contract."

%image('12353279', type="article-full", alt="Rachel Reeves, Labour shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and MP for Leeds West")

The question session was originally brought by an urgent question from Labour's Rachel Reeves who originally asked the minister to make a statement on the High Court ruling that found the Government had acted unlawfully in respect of Covid contracts.

Reeves, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, described the awarding of contracts to Tory "chums and chancers" as an "unedifying gold rush" and a "stain" on the Government's response to the coronavirus crisis.

READ MORE: Matt Hancock pilloried on Good Morning Britain over claim he should be thanked

She said: "The Government has been taken to court and they lost, costing taxpayers even more money.

"From the pub landlord of the Health Secretary to the donors, the manifesto writers, the old boys' club, they've all had a return on their investment at all of our expense. 

"This Government aren't terrified of breaking the law because they feel like they are above the law."

The MHRA investigation into Hinpack was reportedly launched after officers from the local South Cambridgeshire council passed on some concerns reported to them about hygiene and safety standards around the end of January. 

%image('12353165', type="article-full", alt="Matt Hancock with Alex Bourne at the pub Bourne ran with his wife")

Bourne made headlines in 2020 after it was revealed that he offered his services to the Health Secretary through a personal WhatsApp message.

Hancock had been friends with Bourne for several years who ran the village pub with his wife in Thurlow, a few hundred yards from Hancock’s former constituency home.

The Health Secretary was a supporter of the pub, attending its reopening after refurbishment in 2016 and nominating it for an award in 2017.

READ MORE: 'Coincidence' Tory donors given billions in Covid contracts, Matt Hancock says

Allegations against Hinpack include whether it is upholding appropriate regulatory standards with sources saying there was a period of months early in the operation when production workers did not have permanent toilets or access to running water to wash their hands.

There are also allegations of workers failing to follow strict hygiene protocols and not in and out of protective clothing properly when taking breaks.

Bourne’s lawyers said all of these allegations were “untrue” and suggested they may have been made maliciously.