Boris Johnson’s government blamed a communications mix-up for missing the deadline to join an EU procurement scheme to produce ventilators and other urgently needed medical equipment to combat the coronavirus crisis.

On Thursday (26 March), ministers were accused of ‘putting Brexit before breathing’ after a government spokesman said that the UK had chosen to opt-out of the EU programme in favour of its own plans to agree on new contracts with existing suppliers and for British firms to convert their factories to produce the equipment. The equipment ordered under the EU programme is expected to be ready within the next two weeks.

The UK currently has only 8,000 ventilators available, though it has placed orders and agreed contracts for an additional 18,000.

But Downing Street performed a volte-face hours later, saying that “an initial communication problem” meant that officials had not received emails inviting the UK to join the first round of procurements, but that it could still join future schemes.

(Benjamin Fox | EURACTIV.com)