UK pays Eurotunnel 33 million pounds over 'secretive' no-deal Brexit ferry contracts

[Denzil_DC]

3. Guardian story with fuller background:

Grayling under pressure to quit over Brexit ferry fiasco

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Grayling was being sued by Eurotunnel for allegedly breaching public procurement rules over its contract with Seaborne and two other ferry firms to provide freight capacity for emergency medical supplies in the event of no deal.

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Grayling was accused on Monday of trying to conduct large parts of the trial in private, against the principle of open justice. The high court judge ordered Grayling to return by the close of business on Thursday with justification for keeping up to 10,000 documents relating to the contracts private.

It is believed the case was settled out of court on Thursday afternoon and all files now remain sealed and unavailable for press or public scrutiny.

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Downing Street said the decision to settle out of court was a “cross-government decision” and had been taken “to ensure that vital goods would not be put into jeopardy in a no-deal scenario”. The settlement “allows us to continue at the job at hand”, including implementing measures to ease pressure at the border with France in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the spokesman said.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/01/grayling-reaches-33m-settlement-over-brexit-ferry-fiasco-court-case-eurotunnel