Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Chris Grayling

Thursday 14th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

21. What steps he is taking to reduce potential disruption to travel in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)]

My Department is undertaking a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of work to ensure that we are prepared for a scenario in which the UK leaves without a deal. We continue to work to ensure that the UK does not leave without a deal.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Grayling]

The bit I found reassuring is that we let a contract where there was absolutely no upfront commitment from the taxpayer at all, and we paid nothing until the service was delivered.

[Carol Monaghan]

The Secretary of State said on Monday, “I believe in competition”, so why, after realising back in September that a no-deal Brexit would require increased freight capacity, did he embark on what has been called a

“secretive and flawed procurement process”,

tipping off some companies in private while leaving established companies, such as Eurotunnel, out of the loop altogether?

[Chris Grayling]

We carried out a proper procurement process in discussion with all the leading ferry operators.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Chris Grayling

Thursday 19th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)]

I meet my right hon. Friends and Cabinet colleagues on a regular basis to discuss the UK’s exit from the EU. Ministers and officials across Departments are working closely to consider carefully the implications for the aviation sector after we leave the EU.

[Carol Monaghan]

Last month we heard that the first formal talks on a post-Brexit open skies deal with the US were cut short after US negotiators offered an inferior deal to the one we currently enjoy, so when does the Secretary of State plan to return to the negotiating table, and will he do so with a sense of reality about the impact that hard Brexit is having on the aviation industry?

[Chris Grayling]

The hon. Lady should not believe everything she reads in the papers. The discussions taking place between my Department and our counterparts in the United States have been cordial and have been going well. There are no issues that would act as an impediment towards a sensible post-Brexit agreement between the two countries.