A STAGGERING £1.4 billion worth of PPE has been destroyed or written off by the government in what is thought to be its most wasteful deal of the pandemic.

BBC figures revealed that at least 1.57 billion items provided by Northamptonshire-based Full Support Healthcare will never be used, despite being manufactured to the proper standard.

Campaigners said yesterday that the “grossly negligent and unforgivable” waste and profiteering around contracts led to the deaths of hundreds of NHS and care staff who were given useless PPE.