Labour demands government “throw the book” at P&O Ferries over mass sackings

Louise Haigh has urged government ministers to “throw the book” at P&O Ferries after the company decided to make 800 of its staff redundant, via a prerecorded message, with immediate effect earlier this month.

The Shadow Transport Secretary submitted an urgent question today, calling for Grant Shapps to make a statement on the conduct of the ferry operator chief executive and board and detail the action he will take to safeguard jobs.

Junior minister Robert Courts said all MPs should be “appalled and angered” by P&O’s behaviour, saying: “As a government, we will not stand by and allow hard-working, dedicated British staff to be treated in such a manner.”

He added: “We will return to this house to announce a package of measures that will ensure that the outcomes P&O Ferries are seeking to achieve through this disastrous move to pay less than the minimum wage cannot be seen through.”

Haigh called on the government to use “every available tool” at its disposal to force P&O to reinstate workers on the same terms and conditions, and asked whether the Transport Secretary has given his direction to prosecute the company, following Boris Johnson’s comment last week that the government was “taking legal action”.

She also asked whether Shapps would seek the removal of P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite and others within the company who authorised the decision. She reiterated Labour’s demand that ministers suspend all contracts and licenses with P&O and parent company DP World, questioning why the latter is still listed as a member of the government’s trade advisory group.

The Shadow Transport Secretary argued that the Thursday deadline set by P&O for sacked workers to accept severance “amounts to extortion” and asked what legal powers the government has to extend the deadline.

She called for the Department for Transport to work with unions and all ferry companies to agree a “binding framework” to prevent a “race to the bottom” on wages in the sector.

“We must send a clear message that rogue employers cannot get away with trampling over the laws of this country. It’s time to throw the book at P&O and save this loyal workforce,” the Labour frontbencher added.

In a letter to Hebblethwaite earlier today, Shapps said the company would have “little choice” but to reverse its decision under the measures the government will announce.

The Transport Secretary also said the government will “ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions”, called for the severance deadline to be dropped and reiterated his belief that the chief executive’s position is “untenable”.

Courts told Haigh he could not go into more detail about the measures the government will announce but added that they were putting them together “as we speak” and will be “working with the unions and with all others” on the package.

Several MPs noted that the deadline set by P&O and the fact that parliament breaks for recess on the same day increases the urgency of the government announcing its measures. Courts said the government would return to parliament with its proposals “as soon as possible”.

Labour MP Mick Whitley argued that the government’s handling of the situation has been “shameful”. He criticised ministers for failing to protect workers’ jobs and not seeking to outlaw Hebblethwaite from holding a company directorship in future, as well as resisting efforts by Labour to outlaw fire and rehire last year.

Fellow Labour backbencher and Liverpool MP Dan Carden highlighted numerous recent cases of fire and rehire, noting that there had been “warm words” from ministers at the time “but no changes to the outcome”.

“The words of my fellow Liverpudlian Frank Cottrell-Boyce, that Tory MPs protesting the behaviour of PO bosses is like your neighbourhood arsonist offering you a flask of tea over the smoking ruins of your house, comes to mind,” he said.

Asked directly by Labour MP John Cryer when the government would accept that fire and rehire is wrong and should be illegal, Courts argued that the P&O decision “isn’t… really a fire and rehire situation”.

Keir Starmer said this morning that the government failed to act on numerous warnings from Labour that a rogue employer would be able to carry out a mass sacking, saying that his party “flagged this to the government two years ago”.

In a phone-in on LBC radio, the Labour leader said Labour had warned that “somebody is going to crash through this gate if you leave it open” and told listeners that Labour would ban employers from using “fire and rehire” tactics.

Hebblethwaite last week told a joint session of the House of Commons transport and business committee that the company broke the law by failing to consult unions “in good time” ahead of announcing the mass redundancies.