Sarah Mackie - Joanna Cherry Questions Ministers About Seaborne Freight Contract -
SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC questioning Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the EU Christopher Heaton-Harris over concerns about the legality of the UK Government's use of Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations to award Seaborne Freight a £13.8m No-Deal Brexit shipping contract.
Regulation 32 allows the Government to avoid the competitive tendering process in cases of 'extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable'.
However, when asked what unforeseeable event justified the Government's use of Regulation 32, Christopher Heaton-Harris avoids answering, and confirms that staff in his department have been aware of the consequences of a No-Deal Brexit since the department was set up two years ago.