rivals eurotunnel said they were u nfa i rly rivals eurotunnel said they were unfairly treated and sued transport over what it called a secretive approach to awarding shipping contracts. the company which has won ferries in the past said it should have been considered as part of a no deal plan. labour says it's a disaster, calling on the transport secretary to resign. the country cannot afford chris grayling, he has got to go, for the credit ability of our nation and my goodness me, the people working for him must be pulling their hair out, he stumbles from catastrophe to disaster and it's just gross incompetence on an industrial scale, enough is enough and this man has got to be out of his post by monday. chris grayling was nowhere to be seen, at his house, or his office, or his department today. but the government says its £33 million deal with eurotunnel was necessary to ensure vital medicines get through after brexit. the contracts and the ferries that are going to be available are critical our contingency plans, so it's a good thing that the agreement has been made today. sources c

but eurotunnel said the process had been "secretive and flawed".lames chris grayling, the transport secretary, who oversaw the contract process, and says he should resign. our business correspondent joe miller is at the eurotunnel terminal in folkestone. the department for transport has already had to step back from one of its three controversial no—deal brexit ferry contracts, and today it has spent tens of millions of pounds to avoid a trial which would likely have revealed how it went about awarding those lucrative deals in the first place. the beneficiary is eurotunnel, behind me, which has now secured public funding to upgrade its facilities. remember this? the brexit contract for seaborne freight, a company with no ferries, based at a port that isn't ready. and, in order to make sure these ferries are still sailing after a no—deal brexit, the taxpayer is now facing a £33 million bill. rivals eurotunnel said they were unfairly treated, and sued the department for transport over what it called a secretive approach to awarding shipping contracts

but eurotunnel said the process had been secretive and flawed.blames chris grayling, the transport secretary, who oversaw the contract process, and says he should resign. our business correspondent joe miller is at the eurotunnel terminal in folkestone. the department for transport has already had to step back from one of its three controversial no deal brexit ferry contracts, and today it has spent tens of millions of pounds to avoid a trial which would likely have revealed how it went about awarding those lucrative deals in the first place. the beneficiary is eurotunnel, behind me, which has now secured public funding to upgrade its facilities. remember this? the brexit contract for seaborne freight, a company with no ferries, based at a port that isn't ready. and, in order to make sure these ferries are still sailing after a no—deal brexit, the taxpayer is now facing a £33 million bill. rivals eurotunnel said they were unfairly treated, and sued the department for transport over what it called a secretive approach to awarding shipping contract

our business correspondent, joe miller, is at the eurotunnel terminal in folkestone.partment for transport has already had to step back from one of its three controversial no—deal brexit very contracts. today, it spent tens of millions of pounds to avoid a trial which would likely have revealed how it went to awarding those lucrative deals in the first place. the beneficiary is eurotunnel, behind me, which has now secured public funding to upgrade its facilities. remember this? the brexit contract for seaborne freight, a company with no ferries based at a port which isn't ready. in order to make sure these ferries are still sailing after a no deal brexit, the taxpayer is now facing a £33 million bill. rivals eurotunnel said they were unfairly treated and sued the department for transport over what it called a secretive approach to awarding shipping contracts. the company, which has run ferries in the past, said it should have been considered as part of a no deal plan. the payout has put further pressure on the transport secretary, chris grayling. labour called it a di

but, eurotunnel was unhappy with the way the procurement process was carried out.r it, all the government to court over it, all the signs indicated they were going to win. the department for transport must pay out less money, the government say they want to get some continuity and get assurances on the supplies in the event of a no—deal brexit. there are now many opposition politicians saying this is not good for chris grayling. labour are saying he needs to be sacked. his critics say this is not the first time he has made mistakes in government, in other departments too he has blundered, that the critics will say. has a role in justice is under scrutiny today over the way he oversaw various contracts there. adding to that, the fiasco over the east coast main line going back into public hands. you don't get the impression chris grayling is going to be the most popular minister around the cabinet table at the moment. that said, with everything going on in the brexit world, chris grayling is an ally of theresa may. he is somebody she will not want to lose, they have

our business correspondent, joe miller sent this from the eurotunnel terminal in folkestone.sport has already had to walk away from one of its three no—deal brexit ferry contacts. but the government has now had to spend tens of millions of pounds to avoid a trial which would likely have uncovered how it went about awarding those lucrative deals in the first place. the beneficiary is at the company behind me, eurotunnel, which has now secured public funding to upgrade its facilities. remember this? the brexit contract for seaborne freight — a company with no ferries, based at a port which isn't ready. in order to make sure these ferries are still sailing after a no—deal brexit, the taxpayer is now facing a £33 million bill. rivals eurotunnel said they were unfairly treated and sued the department for transport over what it called a "secretive" approach to awarding shipping contracts. the company, which has run ferries in the past, said it should have been considered as part of no—deal plans. labour says it's a disaster, calling on the transport secretary to resign. the country

new pressure on the transport secretary — as the government is forced to pay out £33 million to eurotunnel settle a legal claim. the government signed contracts with three ferry companies to keep goods moving smoothly in the event of a no—deal brexit, but eurotunnel said it was done in a secretive way. we will have the latest on that. and later in the programme — we'll be reporting some of the stories you've told us you want to hear on brexit. also this lunchtime — on the verge of freedom — the indian fighter pilot captured by pakistan is about to be released. social media firms are urged to do more to tackle child grooming, after 5,000 online offences were recorded injust 18 months. wanted — the son of 0sama bin laden: america puts a $1 million bounty on his head. and coming up on bbc news — great britain's katerina johnson—thompson makes an excellent start to the defence of her pentathlon title at the european indoor championships in glasgow. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the government is paying £33 million to eurotunnel — to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry servic

the probation reforms he oversaw as minister ofjustice and the £33 million to eurotunnel to make up fore ferry fiasco when he was giving contracts the ferry fiasco when he was giving co ntra cts to the ferry fiasco when he was giving contracts to ferry company which didn't have any ferries because he should have let eurotunnel know it and didn't. but it is worse than that, if £200 million isn't enough,

and similar for the terminal for the eurotunnel at calais and similarfor the port terminal for the eurotunnel a note to all freight passengers saying the check—in time is six hours. that is an incredible amount of time. we have spoken to people behind me today. some of these vehicles have not moved in the last half an hour since we spoke to them and they have been waiting here for five hours already. at the heart of this representative for the customs workers at calais and dunkirk say they feel real fear at the prospect ofan they feel real fear at the prospect of an idea brexit that they will be exposed are not able to cope with the pressure and extra facility on them to be inspecting all the vehicles with 300 staff. they say they are working to rule. no overtime. they are doing slow and extensive checks on all the tracks here. they have been going through six tracks an hour. some freight trains had been going back to the uk half empty today. that means the back of this queue, there are still people just arriving. a short while ago we spoke to a driver, alan, who had just turned up, arriving

because of the legal action taken by eurotunnel and the legal risks of the court case, it became clearnt, we could no longer be confident of the unhindered supply of medicines. without this settlement, the ferry capacity needed to be confident of supply was at risk. as a government, we could not take that risk and i doubt anyone in this house would have accepted that risk either. even in this golden age of ministerial incompetence, the transport secretary stands out from the crowd. he leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, causing chaos and wasting billions of pounds, yet he shows no contrition, no acknowledgement of his mistakes, nor any resolve to learn and improve. he's now ridiculed in the new york times. the mayor of calais has banned him from his town. mr speaker, the transport secretary has become an international embarrassment. the prime minister is the only person in the country who retains confidence in this failing transport secretary. and only does so because of her own political weakness. the public deserve to know how many more calamities is the prime minister prepare

a secretive wife wasn't as part of the agreement, eurotunnel has agreed to make some improvements toed ferry contracts, one had already had still cancelled after the irish company backing it pulled out. chris grayling, who has faced criticism for not turning up to the commons on monday to answer questions, explain how the decision been made. we collectively across government as a result of decisions and cabinet committees took a decision to go to the ferry industry to secure capacity to guarantee delivery of drugs to this country in the event of a no—deal brexit. that was a conscious decision, it was the right decision and what we did, i will not, will not come on we did was we talked to all of the current ferries operators operating across the north sea and the english channel plus any other operator that has had tangible plans to do so. that is where the procurement came from. i give way. thank you for giving way on that point. the key question however, did he have advice from his officials that negotiations so late with ferry companies would result in a legal challenge by eurotunn

first the headlines: the government has been ordered to pay £33 million to eurotunnel in an agreementvent of a no—deal brexit. pakistan has freed an indian fighter pilot captured after his plane was shot down in pakistan—administered kashmir. flights from stansted airport in essex have been suspended for much of the evening, after an aircraft aborted a take—off due to an engine problem. the runway has now reopened. a man who gave his girlfriend drugs at a festival and filmed her as she died has been jailed for 8.5 years. the georgian authorities have been asked to extradite jack shepherd back to the uk after he killed a woman in a speedboat crash on the river thames. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are michael booker, deputy editor of the daily express, and susie boniface, columnist for the daily mirror. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. the daily telegraph says it understands that army veterans are set to be charged with murder over the deaths of bloody sunday protesters during the troubles, 47 years ago. the g

to eurotunnel in an agreement to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry services in the event of a no—dealrexit. pakistan has freed an indian fighter pilot captured after his plane was shot down in pakistan—administered kashmir. a man who gave his girlfriend drugs at a festival and filmed her as she died has beenjailed for eight and a half years for her manslaughter. the georgian authorities are asked to extradite jack shepherd back to the uk, after killing a woman in a speedboat crash on the river thames. in a moment it will be time for sportsday. but first a look at what else is coming up this evening on bbc news... we'll examine the repurcussions of today's decision that rules aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from renting properties are "discriminatory" , and that they breach human rights laws. with transport secretary, chris grayling, under pressure tonight, we'll bring you the very latest political fall—out on today's ruling — that the government must pay out £33 million to eurotunnel. and we'll take a first look at tomorrow morning's front pages. tonights reviewers are susie bo

but eurotunnel said the contracts were handed out in a "secretive" way.o confidence in his handling of this. he really should think about walking. the record of this transport secretary is that of a departmental wrecking ball. research into the total cost of the secretary of state's mistakes, both in his current role and at the department forjustice, found that he has cost the taxpayer {2.7 billion. there is a complete lack of humility with regards to the fact that £33 million of public money, taxpayers' money, has been wasted. could he just stand up and say sorry to them? i very much regret the fact that we were taken to court. i very much regret the fact we were taken to court. it was a risk that we acknowledged was there. but i stand by the decision to make sure that we could guarantee the supply of drugs to the nhs in the event of a no deal brexit. many of us on these benches have considerable sympathy with the secretary of state. we believe that he was urging his colleagues for the last two years to make contingency planning for no deal, and he was f

but eurotunnel said the contracts were handed out in a "secretive" way.is. should think about walking. the record of this transport secretary is that of a departmental wrecking ball. the total cost of the mistakes, it has cost the taxpayer {2.7 billion. there is a complete lack of humility with regard to the fact that £33 million of public money has been wasted. could he stand up and say sorry? i regret the fact that we were taken to court. i regret that. it was a risk that we acknowledged was there. i stand by the decision to make sure that we could guarantee the supply of drugs to the nhs in the event of a new deal brexit. of a —— no deal brexit. many of us have sympathy. we believe that he was urging his colleagues for the last two years to make contingency planning for no deal and he was frustrated by other people, perhaps in the cabinet, who did not want to do so. if mistakes have been made because of these decisions it is not the fault of my honourable friend. the scottish parliament and welsh assemblyjoined forces on tuesday to urge theresa may to

new pressure on the transport secretary as the government's forced to pay £33 million to eurotunnel toeforms, according to the govenment spending watchdog. crowds gather to welcome the indian fighter pilot, captured by pakistan, who is about to be released. making landlords check tenants' immigration status is ruled to be a breach of human rights. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with hugh — european indoor athletics championships in glasgow good afternoon, our main action comes from the european indoor championships where katarina johnson thompson is in world record form as she looks to defend her title in the pentathlon.

the brexit ferry fiasco — now, the government has to pay £33 million to eurotunnel.extra ferry services if there's a no—deal brexit were given out in secret. labour says the transport secretary chris grayling, must go. he stumbles from catastrophe to disaster and its just gross to disaster and it's just gross incompetence on an industrial scale and enough is enough and this man has got to be out of his post by monday. and a damning report today says probation reforms under mr grayling as justice secretary cost taxpayers half a billion pounds. also on the programme... eight—and—a—half years in jail for the man who filmed his girlfriend as she was dying after giving her drugs. the georgian authorities are asked to extradite

the government agrees to pay 33 million pounds to eurotunnel, to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry services labour says the transport secretary, chris grayling, must go. he stumbles from catastrophe to disaster, and it is just gross incompetence on an industrial scale. enough is enough and that this man must be out of his post by monday. pakistan frees an indian fighter pilot, captured after his plane was shot down — amid rising tensions over kashmir. a man who gave his girlfriend drugs at a festival, and filmed her as she died, has been jailed for eight and a half years. making landlords check tena nts' immigration status, is ruled to be a breach of human rights.

the headlines at 11:00pm: the government agrees to pay £33 million to eurotunnel to settle a lawsuithe event of a no—deal brexit. labour says the transport secretary, chris grayling, has made too many mistakes in government and needs to go. he stumbles from catastrophe to disaster, and it's just gross incompetence on a industrial scale. enough is enough, and he must be out of his post by monday. an indian fighter pilot shot down by pakistan over disputed kashmir is handed back to delhi, reducing tensions between the nuclear—armed states. a man who filmed his girlfriend as she was dying after giving her drugs is given 8.5 years injail. and what exactly is under the surface of mars?

the eurotunnel have sued. £33 million have been paid out to them.ion out on this one as well. where will this end? there comes a point when we have to say enough is enough. chris grayling is feeling at every turn. we simply cannot afford him and he has to go. this is getting ridiculous beyond belief. in truth, the kind of work of negotiating contracts will be done by officials? he has been warned and better warrant that we are looking at this with great attention and people are giving scrutiny to these matters. he has a political oversight. are we really saying that he did not see this coming? yet another contract is going to get us into difficulties where we are shelling out tens of millions of taxpayer money? it is hisjob. the buck stops millions of taxpayer money? it is his job. the buck stops with millions of taxpayer money? it is hisjob. the buck stops with him. this is beyond a farce, beyond parody. i am this is beyond a farce, beyond parody. iam running this is beyond a farce, beyond parody. i am running out of words to describe the incompete

the government has been forced to pay £33 million to eurotunnel,

lorries heading for the uk through calais, dunkirk and the eurotunnel are facing a third day of longe of industrial action by french customs officers. these are the images from yesterday. they're demanding more pay and resources ahead of brexit and are taking much longer than usual to carry out inspections. it's led to queues several kilometres long. an italian trade official has told the financial times that his country plans to formally back china's belt and road initative. the trade and development strategy is designed to help beijing boost foreign trade. the agreement is likely to be signed when president xi visits rome later this month. it would make italy the first g7 country to endorse the controversial scheme. former nissan chairman carlos ghosn has walked out ofjail today after spending almost four months in detention. let's ta ke let's take you to the live pictures. this is the image into the care of the van that has left present with carlos ghosn on board. we have been looking at the images over the course of the last few hours of him leaving and it seems that he sneaked o

la st took the decision aided and collectively last week decided her, however regrettable, the eurotunnelrotect the interests of the country in the circumstances of an adele brexit, and that is the right thing to do. are you feeling any pressure to resign?|j right thing to do. are you feeling any pressure to resign? i will serve the prime ministers longer she wants to be —— ofa no—deal the prime ministers longer she wants to be —— of a no—deal brexit. the prime ministers longer she wants to be -- of a no-deal brexit. so the lesser spotted grayling is alive and well, although having achieved some notoriety, because the new york times no less wrote about his difficulties recently although it seems they had to correct their own article after they suggested mr grayling was responsible for costing the taxpayer to 7p. they later realised it was in fact £2.7 billion. —— costing the taxpayer to 7p. let's go back to our top story... the most senior police officer in britain cressida dick says there is a link between police cuts and rising crime numbers up to the prime minister said there is no cor

the government agree to pay up to £33 million to eurotunnel, to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry servicest says problems with the part—privatisation of the probation service in england and wales have cost taxpayers almost half a billion pounds. and coming up — a special day of brexit coverage

of our products goes through the narrow streets and crosses from dover to calais or goes through eurotunnelts. now, of course, there are many things that this government can do to mitigate the consequences of no deal but we cannot dictate what the eu's tariffs will be, we cannot instruct the port authorities in france how to order their affairs, we cannot compel businesses to acquire the means necessary in order to trade in the way that they have been doing. all of these... all of these are curative costs that businesses would face in the event ofa no businesses would face in the event of a no deal exit on march the 29th. iam of a no deal exit on march the 29th. i am delighted to give way to my idea friend. i thank the secretary of state for giving way and he is right that the european union does not have border infrastructure in place to do the inspection checks that he mentions but is that why they have perhaps asked us to dynamically align our regulations for a period of nine months so that they don't have to carry out those checks during that period? they don't have to carry out those c

eurotunnel proved right?rnment said the process was carried out at pace and it was rushed in the autumn because they said there was new advice on what should happen in government ahead of a potential no—deal brexit and they said they did not go through the regular tendering process because of that, but they did say they did contact all of the companies that currently runs services between the uk and continental europe. this £33 million asa continental europe. this £33 million as a settlement, the government wa nts as a settlement, the government wants this case to go away, because there was a concern that if a judge decided that these contracts should be brought to an end, that there was a risk that the additional freight capacity they have secured would no longer be there, and government sources say there was a risk that if there was disruption and a no—deal brexit that might put at risk the ability to bring medicines and medical equipment in and out of the country, but the £33 million will be spent by eurot

it didn't go to eurotunnel.ause it was thought it was going to lose? i mean why else would they settle before it has even been discussed in court? people familiar with the case tell me that eurotunnel had the government over a barrel. and they had the government over a barrel on a specific point. there were many points that eurotunnel were arguing. but one of them was that the department for transport had ample time to prepare for a no—deal brexit. argubly they had since article 50 was triggered back in 2017 to think of the possibility or potential of a no—deal brexit. and there is a very, very high barfor a governing body that's awarding contracts to say, well, this was something that was out of our control and we couldn't do a transparent procurement process, a full tender process because of these events. and it was felt by those arguing for the government in defence, that that case would be very, very difficult to make, to say that they had no time, that no—deal brexit was an unforeseeable occurrence until la

eight miles of this into the belgian border, i haven't seen cues like that for years being here and eurotunnel in. at the heart of this, the un union say it is because they simply fear that by the end of the month, if there is a no deal brexit, the 300 customs officials here simply couldn't cope, too much of a demand on them so they are literally working to rule in the hours, no overtime, and also going slowly and methodically checking each vehicle, each truck, which means about six trucks an hour are being seen. extremely slow, they are saying there are trains going back and forth half empty because of the time it is taking as well, and the eurostar passengers seeing an extra hour of delays. more on brexit and asking why did the president of brazil tweaked an explicit tweet about the sort of think he thinks goes on at the real kind of lost. stay with us. —— we can. hello. we will take a look at some of the weather stories from around the world and first of all we will start with the other side of the atlantic. in the united states now. satellite showing excessive cloud in the western areas, a

lorries queues at the eurotunnel terminal in calais are stretching back 25 kilometres, as customs checktoms check the customs officials in calais are carrying out intensive lorry checks at the channel tunnel entrance and at the ferry port. the action is aimed at improving pay and increasing staff numbers ahead of the uk s departure from the eu. the trade union representing customs officials say the french government hasn t responded to their demands and warns that industrial action will continue until the government agrees to dialogue. all the passengers and crew onboard a virgin flight from barbados were put into quarantine after landing at gatwick after widespread sickness on board. around 30 people reported feeling unwell during the flight and were taken for treatment on landing. virgin say the aircraft had been chartered by a cruise company and was not a scheduled flight. a spokeswoman suggested that the problem had not originated on the plane. earlier, we heard from one of the passengers who was on—board the flight, phill brown, who explained what happened. about an hour before we