Angela Rayner responds to the news that Michelle Mone is taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords

Angela Rayner MP, Labour's Deputy Leader and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, responding to the news that Michelle Mone is taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords, and reports that Conservative MPs will not be instructed to oppose Labour's motion compelling the release of documents relating to the award of government contracts to PPE Medpro, said:

"The Tories are all out of excuses.

"Ministers must now set out clear timelines on when, where, and how this information will be released. They can't keep taking the public for fools by refusing to come clean on what they knew about this dodgy deal.

"Rishi Sunak was too weak to remove the whip, and has left it to Baroness Mone to finally read the writing on the wall."