Chris Grayling has defended his decision to award a £13.8m contract to charter extra ferries to a “start-up” company that has no ships, as part of no-deal Brexit preparations. “It’s a new start-up business, government is supporting new British business and there is nothing wrong with that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “We have looked very carefully at this business, we have put in place a tight contract that makes sure they can deliver for us. “It has no ships and no trading history so how can due diligence be done?” he told the BBC. The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told Today MPs could get “absolutely everything we want” from May’s Brexit deal.

Source: The Guardian January 02, 2019 10:18 UTC