The government completed the sale of its 40 percent stake in Eurostar for £757 million in March 2015, but later in the year the National Audit Office (NAO) found the sale had left the taxpayer up to £2.3 billion out of pocket and criticised the £2.8 million of legal fees paid to Freshfields.
A subsequent report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called for the government to introduce capped fee arrangements with law firms and, last month, the government accepted this recommendation. It said that it “will seek capped fees although this will be dependent on the detail of the individual project and the negotiated commercial contract between the government and advisory firms.”
However, the government defended its instruction of Freshfields and stated that the legal fees paid to the firm “were fully justified.” It added that “advisers were only used where external advice was required because the specific commercial expertise was not available in government or resources were not available.”
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