In a rare move, the UK government has come out in defense of BP regarding the US EPA’s decision to suspend the company from new government contracts. Members of the UK government filed a midnight brief on Monday saying the EPA’s decision could negatively impact jobs and pension funds invested in the UK super major.

BP filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the southern district of Texas that seeks to overturn the decision and the UK government filed its brief to aid BP in that case. The government brief states EPA’s decision serves as an “improper use of suspension and disqualification as a punitive measure”, the Financial Times reports.

The brief goes on to allege, according to the FT, that improper suspension and punitive disqualification would run “contrary to federal law and regulations, exceeded the EPA’s statutory and regulatory authority and limitations, are unsupported and contradicted by the record in this matter.”

Interestingly, commenters on this lawsuit update from Seeking Alpha support BP, saying the US government would similarly come to the aid of an American corporation treated this “badly.”

Has BP appropriately atoned for its role in the terrible accident? Is the company now being treated unfairly? Surly it’s not that black and white, but either way, BP will be dealing with repercussions from the disaster in US courts for some time.