Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves claims firms offering to make PPE have not heard from Government

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she had been “inundated” with manufacturers who have contacted the Government offering to make PPE but have heard nothing back.

“There are many, many businesses around the country who have perhaps furloughed workers but have the capability and the capacity and the skills to make this personal protective equipment and clothing – particularly the gowns – but have not heard back from the Government.

“Some of them are doing it on an ad-hoc basis for local hospitals or care homes, but this needs to be systematic – it needs to be a national effort, using all of our manufacturing and textile capacity and capability to ensure that the doctors and nurses and care workers … have that equipment and clothing that they need.”

She said there had been “too much focus” on importing PPE from overseas and that there had not been enough focus on bringing smaller suppliers into the national effort.

“It is a disgrace that we’ve got people working on the frontline who aren’t properly protected and Government’s first and foremost responsibility is to protect its citizens, and this now is our main priority.”

Yesterday Ms Reeves tweeted a copy of a letter she sent to Cabinet minister Michael Gove on Saturday expressing concern about PPE shortages and asking how many UK firms had been taken up on their offers to manufacture it.

On Monday, she wrote: “Since I sent this letter to Michael Gove, I’ve had lots of manufacturers tell me that they have contacted the Govt to offer to make PPE but have heard nothing back.”

Ms Reeves said in her letter there was a “huge desire” within Britain’s textiles industry to help, adding: “It is therefore concerning that the Government has not been taking advantage of this.

“I was particularly concerned to hear industry fears that the Government had favoured engaging with major fashion and clothing brands for the production of PPE, over companies that may have been better placed to manufacture what is needed as quickly as possible.”

High-end fashion retailers in the UK, including Burberry, Barbour and David Nieper, have reopened factories and re-enlisted staff who had been furloughed to help boost supplies.

Mr Hancock said on Friday that more companies were needed to help with production.

“We’ve run through (our) stockpile – not entirely, but a large part of it – and we need to be buying it from abroad and making it at home,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said hospital trusts were being forced into “hand-to-mouth” workarounds on PPE, including washing single-use gowns and restricting stocks to key areas.

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust bought 6,000 sets of coveralls due to a very low stock of gowns, though it admitted this was “not ideal”.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told reporters at the Number 10 press briefing that work was continuing to find more PPE.

He said: “We’re improving our sourcing internationally and domestically to make sure we can get the PPE we need in what is a very challenging international context.”

Meanwhile, a shipment of personal protective equipment (PPE) – including 400,000 badly-needed surgical gowns – remains in Turkey despite the presence of an RAF plane on stand-by to bring it to the UK.

The Government said, meanwhile, that 140,000 gowns had arrived from Burma – but with the NHS using 150,000 a day, the demand on resources remains intense.

The PM’s spokesman blamed “unprecedented demand for PPE globally” for some of the difficulties faced by the UK and other countries.

“There are challenges in the supply of PPE, there have been problems in ensuring that PPE gets to the right place at the right time,” he acknowledged.

“It’s the job of Government to get PPE to staff in NHS and care sectors and we are working hard to do so.”