Chris Grayling is facing calls to quit after the government scrapped a multimillion pound ferry contract to provide no-deal Brexit services, awarded to a firm with no ships.

The under-fire transport secretary was widely criticised in December when it emerged he had given a £13.8m contract to Seaborne Freight, to provide extra ferries to ease pressure on important freight routes between Dover and Calais.

His department said it has now terminated the contract after another firm, Arklow Shipping, stepped away from the deal. The support from the Irish company had given the government confidence in the viability of the deal.

Labour demanded Mr Grayling quit or be sacked as he was “heaping humiliation after humiliation” on the country.

The row began when tender documents slipped out on Christmas Eve revealed Seaborne Freight was one of three companies awarded contracts totalling £108m, despite the firm having never run a Channel service.

How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Show all 14 1 /14 How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Passports British passports that expire after 29 March 2019 will continue to be valid as UK travel documents, but will lose the power that comes with being a European Union passport – notably the right of free movement within the EU27. UK passports issued from 30 March 2019 will have the words “European Union” removed from the cover and the first page (along with the translations into Welsh and Gaelic). But they will still be burgundy. By October 2019, new British passports will have dark blue covers Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Pets You will still be able to travel to the EU with your pet after Brexit, but it could well get more complicated depending on the status that the European Union decide to apply. 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The cost is £5.50 for each. Motor insurance will no longer automatically extend to the EU. Insurers will provide on request a “Green Card”, for which an extra charge will be made PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Flights Even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, flights will continue to operate between the UK and European Union. However, in the event of the UK leaving with no deal, many flights are likely to be cancelled because departures would be capped at 2018 levels. As UK airlines have already announced thousands of new flights to Europe from the end of March 2019, some would have to be cancelled Getty How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe Air routes The network of flight links between Britain and eastern Europe could be affected by any reduction in the number of workers from those countries. 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The explicit standardisation of commodity codes and tariffs associated with trade deals have little relevance to holidaymakers.” Having said that, the government and Kent County Council are planning for possible chaos at Channel ports because of a backlog of trucks in the event of a no-deal Brexit. This would impinge on holidaymakers’ plans PA How Brexit will affect your travel to Europe European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) The EU says: “If you fall ill or have an accident during a visit to another EU country, as an EU citizen you have the right to receive the necessary public healthcare in any EU country under the same conditions as people in the host country.” The EHIC also works in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Treatment, says the NHS, is “at a reduced cost or, in many cases, free of charge”. From 11pm GMT on 29 March 2019, when the UK ceases to belong to the European Union, British travellers will have no automatic right to use the EHIC. 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It also emerged that the ferry company appeared to have copied its terms and conditions from a takeaway outlet.

Mr Grayling previously defended the decision, saying due diligence had been done and he would “make no apologies” for supporting a new British business.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: “This cannot go without consequence. The Chris Grayling catalogue of calamities grows bigger by the day.

“This contract was never going to work but this secretary of state, true to form, blunders from one disaster to another.

“Whilst Theresa May needs the few friends she has right now, we cannot have this incompetent transport secretary carry on heaping humiliation after humiliation on our country. He has to go.”

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said: “With less than 50 days to put new arrangements in place there are serious questions to answer over how this multimillion pound contract was awarded in the first place.

“This saga has been beyond satire and it’s a worrying indictment on this government’s lack of preparation.”

However, leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned whether Leo Varadkar’s Irish government was responsible for Arklow’s decision.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, which revealed the decision, he said: “One has to hope that the Irish government has not leant on or put any pressure on Arklow to persuade it to pull out.

“That would be a very unfriendly act of a neighbour to obstruct no-deal preparations and one has to hope very sincerely that this is genuinely a corporate decision.”

It comes after Mr Grayling, whose department is heavily affected by Brexit, said attacks on his competence were because he had become a “lightning rod for the anti-Brexit brigade”.

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A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Following the decision of Seaborne Freight’s backer, Arklow Shipping, to step back from the deal, it became clear Seaborne would not reach its contractual requirements with the government.

“We have therefore decided to terminate our agreement.