RISHI Sunak is visiting Scotland amid an ongoing scandal over Covid contracts awarded to a firm recommended by Michelle Mone.
On Sunday, the formerly Conservative Baroness admitted to lying to the media for years about PPE Medpro, insisting she had no connection to the firm and did not stand to benefit from some £200 million in UK Government contracts given to it.
Questions have been raised for now-Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who Mone named specifically, and Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, who was a UK Government minister at the time of her lobbying.
As the scandal rolls on, Sunak is visiting Moray.
In a release from the UK Government, the Prime Minister is said to be going to “have a cup of tea with personnel and hear about their remarkable work over the past year to support the security of people across Scotland and the entire United Kingdom”.
It is thought that Sunak will be in Lossiemouth.
Downing Street said that he “will also have a video call with members of our Armed Forces who are stationed abroad over the festive period and are unable to be with their families”.
Sunak will speak to the Scottish media and is likely to face questions on the Mone scandal. He was chancellor of the exchequer at the time she lobbied for PPE Medpro to be awarded government contracts.
Sunak had taken on the role after the resignation of Sajid Javid, who took issue with the amount of control which Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson wanted over the Treasury.
Sunak's visit also comes as the UK Government faces legal action over its approval of the Rosebank oil field.
Campaign group Uplift claims the Energy Secretary failed to show how Rosebank – one of the largest untapped oil reserves in UK waters – aligns with the Government’s net-zero plan for 2050.
In a separate case, Greenpeace says the approval process did not consider the pollution that would come from burning the oil once produced and that the project itself would be too damaging for marine wildlife.
The Government said it “strongly rejects these claims” and will contest any challenge.
