The UK government has offered its backing to the oil giant, BP in a legal dispute involving the company in the US following the disastrous oil spill.

The government of the UK said that the company should not be banned from winning federal contracts in the US. The government wrote in a filing with to a court that the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the firm from US government contracts may be an excessive step. The government said that the firm is important to protect British jobs and jobs and pension funds.

BP has been able to successfully convince a court to order a re-examination of key terms of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil-spill settlement. The company claimed that the settlement could lead to billions of dollars in improper pay-outs for the company. BP said the program's administrator, Patrick Juneau was giving approval to millions of dollars in "fictitious" payments to businesses for economic losses based on a flawed interpretation of the settlement reached between the company and the authorities and others.