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Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
, 15 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
THE SORRY SAGA OF SEABORNE FREIGHT
Seaborne Freight contract worth £13.8 million announced. Dredging begins at Ramsgate in early January 2019. The operation is carried out by a Dutch company.
theisleofthanetnews.com/2019/01/04/sec…
Doubts quickly raised...
Andy McDonald MP (8 Jan): "The Transport Secretary has awarded a £14 million contract to a company with no money, no ships, no track record, no employees, no ports, one telephone line, and no working website or sailing schedule."
theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=20…
Doubts pile on doubts...
On the 8th of January, it was pointed out in Parliament that the company had copied its website's T&C from a takeaway, and had negative assets of nearly £400,000.
theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=20…
External consultants involved in due diligence process named...
Baroness Sugg (8 January): "We ensured that its business and operational plans were assessed for the department by external advisers, including Slaughter and May, Deloitte and Mott Macdonald."
theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2019…
More assurances given...
Baroness Sugg (8 January): "With Seaborne, the proposal was subject to technical, financial and commercial assurance as part of a standard due diligence procedure consistent with that undertaken on all government contracts."
theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2019…
Costs of dredging the port of Ramsgate (not part of the deal with Seaborne) estimated at £1.5 million...
theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2019…
14 January: Seaborne, the DoT, and Thanet Council allegedly working together to prepare the port of Ramsgate to accept new services...
theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2019…
The specific assistance provided by external contractors was expanded on...
Baroness Sugg (15 Jan): "The advisers concerned are Slaughter & May (legal advice), Deloitte UK (financial advice) and Mott MacDonald (technical assurance)."
theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2019…
On 16 January 2019, the DoT confirmed it had "no plans to cancel the Seaborne Freight contract" despite the fact it was now clear they wouldn't be ready by the contracted date of 29 March.
theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2019…
On 21 January 2019, questions were raised in Parliament about the legality of the procurement process...
Baroness Sugg, responding: "No discussions with EU officials were required nor held, and we do not expect to pay compensation to any party."
theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2019…
Questions about who's paying for the Ramsgate works...
Baroness Sugg (21 Jan): "the department is in discussions with Thanet District Council and Seaborne Freight to agree funding on the arrangements for the infrastructure works at the port of Ramsgate."
theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2019…
On 4 February, it emerged the Goverment was planning to pay a law firm £800,000 in preparation against a possible legal challenge by Eurotunnel over the awarding of the 3 ferry contracts that included Seaborne.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-471240…
On 8 February, Thanet District Council postponed a decision at its meeting that would have seen it make budget cuts of £730,000 (putting paid to work to reopen Ramsgate as a ferry port) after a request from Chris Grayling.
bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
On 9 February, the DoT finally gave up trying to hold back the tide, and cancelled Seaborne Freight's contract. It claimed no money had been paid to the firm.
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…
However, there were definitely costs involved:
- Costs of the tender process
- DoT time and resources
- 3rd party legal, financial and technical advice
- Dredging costs
- Legal advice re. Eurotunnel
- Travel costs
- Opportunity cost of the lost contract to no deal preparations
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Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
A thread on the ineptitude of David Davis...
"It is vital to set out how we leave", said the man-without-a-plan, in advance of the Brexit referendum...
Our membership of the EU hasn't increased trade (except that our exports to the EU went up from £133 billion in 1999 to £274 billion, and our imports from £142.2 billion to £341 billion. But those are just facts, to be ignored at will...)
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Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
Here's David Davis in 2015, celebrating EU law for its role in blocking what he saw as overreach by government.
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Edwin Hayward
@uk_domain_names
Although there are dozens of permutations, I can see Brexit unfolding in the near term one of two ways:
A) Parliament manages to impose its will in a non-blockable manner (if they even can) and Brexit gets delayed.
B) Theresa May runs the clock down until days before Brexit Day.
Under scenario B) she would then dare MPs to vote down her deal and fall over the no-deal cliff. And the threat would probably have teeth, too, in that it's unlikely Parliament could execute a strategy to kill off no-deal at that late, late stage.
The upshot would be that we would end up with a Brexit that we had quite literally been blackmailed into. A choice made, not for the good of the country, but purely and solely to keep the Tory party together.
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