Labour to investigate £600m Covid contracts given under the Tories

Chancellor to announce move in bid to fight back amid questions on ethics

- Kiran Stacey, Peter Walker

Rachel Reeves will announce today that she has ordered investigations into more than £600m worth of Covid contracts awarded under the Conservatives as Labour struggles to get on the front foot over questions of ethics.

Following days of bruising allegations over donations, the chancellor will confirm that she will refer more than half of contracts for material such as masks to the incoming Covid corruption commissioner.

The previous government recommended dropping any attempt to investigate them.

The announcement is part of a fightback for Labour, which kicked off its annual conference in Liverpool yesterday with Keir Starmer already under pressure over a range of issues, including why he and senior ministers accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from donors.

The way in which lucrative Covid contracts were awarded through a VIP lane was an issue that dogged the Tory government, provoking criticisms of "chumocracy".

The Guardian revealed last year that the Conservative peer Michelle Mone was one of those to benefit through her involvement with PPE Medro, which was awarded contracts worth £200m. The company is the subject of a long-running investigation by the National Crime Agency.

In her speech, Reeves will say: "Billions of pounds of public money handed out to friends and donors of the Conservative party. Billions more defrauded from the taxpayer.