he told mps it was because the irish firm backing seaborne, arklow shipping, had pulled out. despite previous assurances, arklow shipping suddenly and unexpectedly withdrew their backing from seaborne. in the light of this and after very careful assessment, i took the decision to terminate this contract. my department concluded that there were now too many major commercial issues to be resolved to enable seaborne to establish alternative arrangements in finance in the time needed to bring ferries and ports into the operation. mr speaker, as i have repeatedly made clear, not a penny of taxpayers' money has gone and will go to seaborne. i repeatedly warned the secretary of state that this was the wrong decision at the time as did industry, yet he chose to ignore those warnings. he told the house last month that this procurement was done properly. it has since emerged that the dft took short cuts on the seaborne freight procurement. the deal was signed off by a subgroup of the subgroup, and the main form of oversight, the board, never looked at it. he points the finger at arklow

it says the company's main backer, arklow shipping, has pulled out, meaning seaborne could not meet itspaid any public money. ferries haven't operated at ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes new services from here could help reduce congestion at dover if there are delays come the end of march. but there is now a big question mark over whether ramsgate will be used if there is a no—deal brexit. the department of transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services, possibly from ramsgate. with less than two months to go until brexit, timing is tight. it is a disappointment. i don't know the commercial reasons why arklow have pulled out. but i want to make sure this port is ready for brexit resilience. however the cash—strapped local authority is considering a cut to the port's funding which might prevent a ferry service starting in the future. rob young, bbc news. and before we go, i want to show you some pictures we've had in from chile which has been hit by heavy rain in the past few days. this is the moment a waterfall was re—activated by a torren

it is thought that backer, arklow shipping, has withdrawn for commercial reasons.es haven't operated from ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brexit. so it is still possible ferries will once again sail from here. the department for transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services. with less than two months to go until brexit timing is tight. earlier, our political correspondent is iain watson said questions are now being raised about whether the government did due diligence before awarding the contract. you can imagine from opposition it's not been entirely positive reaction, labour or calling the transport secretary to resign, they say that this contract has been in the humiliation notjust for government but for the country, another labour front bench pressing who was at the conference today said that he was the worst secretary of state ever. and that takes quite some doing, but the question expect the opposition to say that and what you will not neces

it is thought that backer, arklow shipping, has withdrawn for commercial reasons.from ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brexit. so it is still possible ferries will once again sail from here. the department for transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services. with less than two months to go until brexit, timing is tight. rob joins us now from ramsgate. rob — what's the latest? the decision to award a £14 million contract the decision to award a £14 million co ntra ct to the decision to award a £14 million contract to a shipping canteen —— company that had no ships was controversial from the start. critics derided the government for doing that. some in the times said this decision to end the contract was inevitable. the local authority is considering cutting the amount of money it gets to the port because it says it is strapped for cash. if it does do this, the decision could be taken in the next month, that might —— might mean it could be impossible f

it is thought that backer arklow shipping has withdrawn for commercial reasons.rry services haven't operated from ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brex. so it is still possible ferries will stale from here. the department for transport says it in talks with other companies to supply service, with less than two months to go until brex timing is the owner of topshop paid a female employee more than £1 million to keep quiet after she accused him of kissing and groping her. the daily telegraph says the senior female employee , which it hasn't named for legal reasons , was one of five members of staff , who signed gagging orders after being bullied or harassed , by sir philip green. chi chi izundu has more. aggressive and intimidating. sexual harassment and racism. both are the accusations making headline news on the front of the telegraph newspaper. details of the allegations against sir philip green one of britain's best known businessman involving five employees we re businessman involvi

it is thought that backer, arklow shipping, has reasons.m ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brexit. so it is still possible ferries will once again sail from here. the department for transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services. with less than two months to go until brexit timing is tight. tight. earlier rob joined us from ramsgate — to talk about the reaction from the town. decision to award a £40 million contract decision to award a £40 million co ntra ct to decision to award a £40 million contract to a shipping company which had no ships was controversial from the start. critics derided the gum —— government for doing that. some the town said the decision 20 contract was inevitable. the local authorities considering cutting the amount of money gets to the port because it says it is strapped for cash. that decision may be taken in the next month. that may be at some point in the future and could be impossible for ferry se

company, which had no ships and no experience in the sector, parted with its backer, irish company arklow shipping said no public money had been spent during the process, but a report from the national audit 0ffice revealed it had cost £800,000 in consultancy fees. the secretary of state may wish to argue that you got this £100,000 worth since echoes of to come back with findings, including that seaborne freight presented steve get execution risks and that a basic blush test was the most that could be carried out on the company's financials. which of these two findings did secretary find it most reassuring when deciding to go with seaborne freight? the bit i found reassuring was that we had a contract with there was no upfront commitment to taxpayers and we paid nothing towards service and delivery. this secretary of state is never wrong reasonably. what about the multiple transport and justice contracts come of the book balance business, court fees it puts the innocent to plead guilty and catastrophic privatisation and perversion of prisons. his ongoing presence in government makes an internation

it says the company's main backer, arklow shipping, has pulled out, meaning seaborne could not meet itsy. ferries haven't operated at ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes new services from here could help reduce congestion at dover if there are delays come the end of march. but there is now a big question mark over whether ramsgate will be used if there is a no—deal brexit. the department of transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services, possibly from ramsgate. with less than two months to go until brexit, timing is tight. it is a disappointment. i don't know the commercial reasons why arklow have pulled out. but i want to make sure this port is ready for brexit resilience. however the cash—strapped local authority is considering a cut to the port's funding which might prevent a ferry service starting in the future. rob young, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: artwork by adolf hitler went under the hammer today — the auction sparked outrage, but none of the paintings sold. we'll be live in the netherlands to find out mo

i will be working with the team at seaborne to ensure they have appropriate support from arklow shipping the fizzing in question in the house of commons. it is one of the driest places on earth — and the most recent drought saw the community of turkana in northern kenya reach crisis point — with wells and rivers too dry or salty to provide drinkable water. the animal welfare charity spana stepped in — and has just completed work on a solar—powered borehole — it now serves more than four thousand people from four villages.. and also 15,000 animals — may of which the locals depend on for their livelihoods. the problem here was that lives were at risk? yes they had no rain for three years and 500,000 animals had died asa three years and 500,000 animals had died as a result. what we did was to build a solar powered borehole to provide fresh water one. it provides water for provide fresh water one. it provides waterfor animals provide fresh water one. it provides water for animals and people and to reduce his workload of collecting water which has particularly helped local women and children

that the company would not be able to meet its contractual requirements after another company, arklow shippingthdrew its support for seaborne freight. what the government is saying is that it is 110w government is saying is that it is now in the advanced stages of looking at a number of other companies to cope with additional freight capacity in the event of a no—deal brexit. it could be tricky though. we have already had concerns from the council in ramsgate that the airport won't be ready by the end of march and also the mayor of ostend in belgium has said his port won't be ready by the end of march to cope with a new very light being set up. 0k, thank you for explaining all about. just over a thousand stabbing victims, aged between ten and 19, spent at a least one night in hospital in the 12 months to last march. there's been a 54% rise in the number of young people treated for knife wounds in england over the past five years, according to nhs figures. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw reports. the youngest victim to die in a knife attack this year, jaden moodie, was stabbed to deat

it is thought that backer, arklow shipping, has withdrawn for commercial reasons.rvices haven't operated from ramsgate since 2013. the government hopes the port could offer extra capacity should dover become clogged after brexit. so it is still possible ferries will once again sail from here. the department for transport says it's in advanced talks with other companies to supply freight services. with less than two months to go until brexit timing is tight. our business correspondent rob young joined us from ramsgate, to gauge reaction there. the decision to avoid a £40 million contract to the shipping company that had no ships was controversial from the start. critics derided the government for doing that, some in the town say that this decision to and be contract was perhaps inevitable. local authority is considering cutting the amount of money that it gives it to the voided because it says it's strapped for cash. if it does decide to do that, the decision may well take in the next month or so, that may well be back at some point in the future, it'll just be impo

that that has happened because another company, who we were not really aware lower —— whereof, arklow shippingg off the seaborne freight deal. the mayoral ostend has said he is port won't be ready to support a new very line. —— the mayor. there been concerns raised in govett as well. it is in advanced stages of negotiating with other companies to provide additional freight service in the event of a no—deal brexit. never have negotiations been so crucial. thank you very much, jon donnison there. we stay with brexit. theresa may continued her efforts to secure a brexit deal, meeting the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, in dublin last night to discuss her hopes of securing changes to the agreement. the irish government insisted the talks were not part of the official eu negotiations and the meeting was described by sources as "very warm". we're joined now by our political correspondent matthew cole. good morning, matthew. she had, what was it, it was a dinner, officially, and there were various clues as to what they would or would not be talking about. are we any the wiser this morning? not hu

a company with no ships, only to terminate it when the firm lost the backing of the irish shipping giant, arklowy, andy mcdonald. late last week despite previous assurances arklow chipping suddenly and unexpectedly withdrew their backing from seabourn. in the light of this and after a careful assessment, i took the decision to terminate this contract. my department concluded there were too many major commercial issues to be resolved enabled to allow seabourn to bring varies in time. not a penny of tax is money has gone or will go to seabourn. the contracts we have agreed essentially a commitment to block booked tickets on additional ceilings after the uk to leave the european union so actually we have taken irresponsible decision to make sure taxpayers money is properly protected. —— we are taking a responsible decision. what began as a to ba cco responsible decision. what began as a tobacco has descended into a whitehall farce. this minister is rewriting the textbook for ministerial incompetence in office. i repeatedly warned the secretary of state this was the wrong decision at the time as dea