{"id":5858,"date":"2018-12-29T02:05:12","date_gmt":"2018-12-29T02:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/uk-to-spend-108m-on-no-deal-ferries\/"},"modified":"2018-12-29T02:05:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-29T02:05:12","slug":"uk-to-spend-108m-on-no-deal-ferries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/uk-to-spend-108m-on-no-deal-ferries\/","title":{"rendered":"UK to spend \u00a3108m on no-deal ferries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The UK will spend more than \u00a3100m chartering extra ferries to ease “severe congestion” at Dover, in the case of a no-deal Brexit.<\/p>\n

Over the last few months, additional ferry contracts were awarded to French, Dutch and British companies.<\/p>\n

The contingency plans allow for almost 4,000 more lorries a week to come and go from other ports, including Plymouth, Poole, and Portsmouth.<\/p>\n

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called the move “complete madness”. <\/p>\n

“The government has the power to stop “no deal” at any time but instead is spending millions on last minute contracts,” he said. <\/p>\n

“The fact that this money is predominantly going to European companies is nothing short of ironic, reducing Britain to a laughing stock on the global stage.” <\/p>\n

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the awards were “a small but important element” of its no-deal planning.<\/p>\n

‘Extreme urgency’<\/h2>\n

In documents outlining the agreements, the DfT states that an “unforeseeable” situation of “extreme urgency” meant there was no time for the contracts to be put out to tender – the standard practice for public procurements.<\/p>\n

However the BBC understands that a number of firms were considered and there was a private negotiation process.<\/p>\n

The Department also states that increased border checks by EU countries in the case of a no-deal Brexit could “cause delivery of critical goods to be delayed”, and “significant wider disruption to the UK economy and to the road network in Kent”.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the DfT said the contracts would provide “significant extra capacity” to UK ports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but stressed that the government remained committed to reaching a deal with the EU.<\/p>\n

Three suppliers were awarded a total of \u00a3107.7m: <\/p>\n