Seaborne Freight

Richard Burden Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I keep saying that I find it baffling that the Opposition should be opposed to giving a chance to a small business when the taxpayer was exposed to no financial risk at all, particularly when that small business had a major international backer. It is inexplicable.

[Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)]

On successive occasions, the Secretary of State has assured the House that he carried out full due diligence tests of this contract before he awarded it, but I for one am none the wiser about what those due diligence checks consisted of. Today, will he answer the question that he failed to answer when he last appeared before the House on this matter? In April last year, Seaborne Freight issued an investor briefing that claimed:

“Detailed port agreements with Ramsgate and Ostend negotiated and agreed.”

We now know that no such agreements existed. Did his due diligence checks not reveal that and, if not, what kind of due diligence was it? Or did they reveal that and, if so, what weight did he attach to the fact that Seaborne had issued an inaccurate investor briefing?

[Chris Grayling]

The comfort that we had was that the three professional advisers advised us that credible plans were in place. That was reinforced by written confirmation from Arklow Shipping that it was supporting the proposal and by the fact that we protected the taxpayer’s interests by ensuring that no funds would be paid over unless this was delivered. The fact that, last week, we had a firm that had options on ships and agreements reached in principle with both ports, suggested to me that it was on the right track. It was just a shame that the backers did not feel able to continue.