Not ferry clever Demands Grayling quits as Seaborne deal axed
CHRIS Grayling last night faced calls to quit after a post-brexit ferry contract awarded to a firm with no ships was axed.
The bungling Transport Minister, who has overseen a string of failed projects, had struck a £13.8million deal with Seaborne Freight to run services between Ramsgate in Kent and Ostend if we crash out of Europe.
But the Government scrapped the contract after the firm’s financial backers pulled out.
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy Mcdonald said: “As we predicted, the Seaborne contract has been cancelled. This cannot go without consequence. The Grayling catalogue of calamities grows bigger by the day. He blunders from one disaster to another. We cannot nnot have this A SECTION of the Morandi bridge in Italy that partially collapsed, killing 43 people, is removed as demolition work begins.
The Genoa structure will be rebuilt under the directorship of London Shard architect Renzo Piano. It will be Europe’s most costly.
A 200-metre-long section of the bridge broke up last August in busy lunchtime traffic, sending dozens of vehicles and people plunging on to the ground below. incompetent Transport Secretary carry on heaping humiliation after humiliation on our country. He has to go.” Labour leader le Jeremy Corbyn added: a “Chris Grayling claimed the Government had ‘ looked carefully’ at Seaborne beforeb giving the companyco the contract, but apparently not carefully enough to notice it didn’t didn have any ships.” Seaborne was one of three firms given contracts worth £108million to put on extra ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit, despite never having run such a service.
Grayling faced huge criticism over the move but arrogantly insisted it was “not a risk”.
But the DFT said Seabourne’s backers Arklow Shipping decided to “step back from the deal”.
It added: “It became clear Seaborne would not reach its contractual requirements. We have decided to terminate our agreement.” And it said it was in talks with other firms in a bid to provide a no-deal ferry service.
Grayling has previously come under fire over the Gatwick drone fiasco as well as problems with Crossrail and HS2.