DFT knew ferries deal was high risk, says watchdog

CHRIS GRAYLING has insisted he is not to blame for a fiasco over a no-deal Brexit ferry contract awarded to a company with no ships, as Whitehall’s spending watchdog revealed the Department for Transport knew the deal was “high risk”.

The Transport Secretary faced calls for his resignation after he terminated the £13.8 million contract with Seaborne Freight after Arklow Shipping, an Irish company which backed the bid, stepped away from the deal.

But the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed the department had identified the bid as a “high-risk proposition”. An NAO memo prepared for MPS on the public accounts committee expressed concern that while Seaborne had identified ships to run services between Ramsgate and Ostend, contracts had not been finalised.

The memo also showed the services were not due to be operational until April 26 – almost a month after Brexit.

The bid from Seaborne was initially assessed to be “non-compliant” but the department decided to award the contract after conducting “due diligence”.

Mr Grayling told the House of Commons his department had monitored the progress of Seaborne and “last week, despite previous assurances, Arklow Shipping suddenly and unexpectedly withdrew their backing”.

He said: “My department concluded there were now too many major commercial issues to be resolved to enable Seaborne to establish alternative arrangements and finance… in time.”