THE UK Prime Minister has been urged to meet with representatives of Valneva to understand the “inexplicable” decision to cancel their Covid vaccine contract by the MP for Livingstone, where the biotech company has a manufacturing site.

Speaking at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, the SNP's Hannah Bardell called on Boris Johnson to meet with her and finally resolve the cancellation of the vaccine contract, which took place three weeks before positive clinical trial results were announced.

To date, no reason has been given for the cancellation and no apology offered following an inaccurate statement issued in the House of Commons which caused distress to clinical trial participants and commercial damage to the company.

READ MORE: Jobs at Valneva's Livingston site 'at risk' after UK cancelled deal in 'bad faith'

The former chair of the UK’s vaccine taskforce, Dame Kate Bingham, suggested the UK Government “acted in bad faith” when it cancelled the 100 million inactivated Covid vaccines set to be produced by Valneva.

Bardell said: “The UK Government’s inexplicable decision to cancel Valneva’s contract, which would have delivered 100 million Covid vaccines, has left their workforce extremely apprehensive about the future.

“Boris Johnson made great play when he visited Valneva earlier this year – posing for pictures and talking up the UK’s vaccine rollout. He must now put his money where his mouth is and back this workforce in my Livingston constituency. New hires were made to support the UK’s order – and after his decision a new state-of-the-art, and much needed, vaccine manufacturing plant lies unfinished.

“I gave the Prime Minister an opportunity today to apologise for the lack of transparency on this issue – he failed to do so.

“Although I was pleased to see him commit to a discussion in person, I will not rest until the record is straight.

“The workforce at Valneva deserve transparency, and I will not stop until they have it.”