Reform MP's firm banked over £100,000 in taxpayer-funded furlough cash – as it made £7.9million

Former Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe is giving away his MP’s salary but the profit-making company he is director of was only too happy to rake in public support

New Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe’s Covid test firm banked over £100,000 in taxpayer-funded furlough cash – while making a £7.9million profit.

The former Southampton FC chairman was elected in for Nigel Farage’s hard-right party in Great Yarmouth, pledging to hand his MP’s salary to good causes. But we can reveal he is director of a Covid testing kit firm which happily boosted its coffers with public cash.

He is director of Biopharma Process Systems Ltd, which recorded a £7.9million pre-tax profit in 2021 – with a further £2.65million in 2022. It paid dividends of £1.7million in 2022 and £2.16million in 2021. The company got £141,741 in government grants in 2021, according to accounts.

Mr Lowe is a shareholder in PE487 Limited, which owns Biopharma Process Systems Ltd. The chairman of PE487 Ltd has told the Mirror the £141,741 in government grants was furlough money. Some firms decided to hand back money received via the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme to the government.

A Biopharma strategic report for 2022 noted the firm has seen a decrease in turnover “mainly as a result of the reduction on the production of respiratory PCR tests associated with the COVID pandemic”. However, it added optimistically: “The directors are pleased with the performance of the company and are continuing to work to grow the company.”

Mr Lowe has been at the centre of controversy over his decision to give away his MP salary – pledging to donate about £5,000 each month to a different local cause. But the FT reported last month “his largesse has not been entirely welcomed by some local MPs from more modest backgrounds, who believe he is unfairly putting pressure on them to give up some of their own £91,346 annual basic salary”.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr Lowe or the firm. The MP, elected to Parliament in July, said: "I am involved in a range of business interests, exclusively in a non-executive director role. This brings welcome experience to Parliament, otherwise severely lacking in individuals who know and understand how businesses operate.

“In no way am I the 'boss' of Biopharma, I am a non-executive director - with no say over the day-to-day running of the company. As with all areas of the economy, lockdown changed the way that industries operated. I myself actively and vocally campaigned against lockdowns and the widespread use of COVID testing.

“Evidently, my directorship made zero impact on my very public view on lockdown and the wider COVID response, which remains the biggest Government policy mistake inflicted on the British population during my lifetime.

“I declared my directorship in PE487, the holding company that controls and owns Biopharma operations, as I was under the impression this was sufficient to demonstrate my involvement in the group - which was already fully public through my declarations.

“All directorships in separate Biopharma companies, and my shareholding in PE487, have now been declared in order to clarify matters. I made a promise during the campaign to the good people of Great Yarmouth to donate my monthly net MP salary to local worthy causes, and I am sticking to it - something rather unusual in today's politics, I know.

“So far, there have been three recipients of my donations - Great Yarmouth Town FC, Hemsby Lifeboat, and the Pathway Cafe and Support Centre. Plenty of other MPs who have just as much wealth as me, and even far more in some cases, choose to take the money. That's their decision, and I have never put any pressure on them to do otherwise.

“If MPs don't like my salary donation, quite frankly I could not care less. Instead of pathetic anonymous briefings, these weasels should put up or shut up.”

PE487 Ltd chairman Andrew Cowen said the government grants was furlough money. He said: “Rupert Lowe is a shareholder... he’s a director of both PE487 and Biopharma Process Systems… he is not executive, he does not take an executive role in the management of the company.”

Asked if he thought it was justifiable to take public money while making millions in profit, he said: “Provided that it is done legally and within the law…" He said of the furlough cash: “It’s not for me to make a moral judgement or to express a moral view.”