Inside Politics: P&O mass sacking sparks widespread outrage

MPs condemn ferry operator for making 800 staff redundant via video call without notice, as government urged to intervene, writes Matt Mathers

The sacking of hundreds of seafarers by P&O Ferries has led to the suspension of ferry services between the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Wire)

Some 800 P&O seafaring workers are waking up this morning with no jobs after the ferry operator announced, without warning and via a video call, that it is replacing its employees with cheaper agency staff. Not only has the move raised questions about whether or not the redundancies are legal, but it has also sparked outrage on all sides of the Commons and reignited the debate around “fire and rehire” employment practices. Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, described the move as “disgusting” while Downing Street said the workers’ treatment was “wholly unacceptable”.

Both the Tories and Labour will today try to make political hay out of the crisis, but the truth is neither party can claim that its hands are entirely clean when it comes to the subject of workers’ rights. Labour was in July last year accused of using fire and rehire tactics by recruiting staff on insecure contracts while making mass redundancies. Just three months later, Boris Johnson’s government blocked a private members’ bill which would have significantly curbed the practice. But the P&O sackings (it says it had no choice to make the changes after making losses of £100 million due to the pandemic) are undoubtedly more tricky for the Brexit-backing PM, who weeks earlier in his Tory Party conference speech called for a “high wage economy” for British workers, promising them a better deal outside the EU.

In axing hundreds of its staff, P&O, which carries freight as well as passengers into, out of and around the UK, has had to suspend its service for a “week to 10 days” as it brings in new workers, with politicians in Northern Ireland warning of potential supply shortages. The news also serves as an ominous warning for the economy more broadly. P&O is reported to have taken around £15 million from the taxpayer during the pandemic, yet still made mass redundancies, perhaps signalling that employment figures released by the Office for National Statistics last week are not quite as strong as they appear. As he continues working on his spring statement this weekend, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, will be hoping that P&O’s woes are not a sign of further things to come.

Inside the bubble

Commons proceedings get underway at 9.30am with a day of private members’ bills.

Coming up:

– Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon on Sky News Breakfast at 8.05am

– Armed forces minister James Heappey on BBC Radio 4 Today at 8.30am

Daily Briefing

• P&OH NO: The fall out from P&O’s mass sacking is going to rumble on for the rest of today and beyond. Services from Dover to Calais, Hull to Rotterdam, Liverpool to Dublin, and Cairnryan, Scotland, to Larne, Northern Ireland have all been scrapped “for the next few days”, the firm said earlier, with fears of significant disruption. There have already been reports of queues forming at Dover. Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, called on the government to force P&O to “come up with a different plan”. He said: “What I say to the government is you’ve got to get P&O into a position where they’re prepared to negotiate with the trade union members. “And they’ve got to come up with a different plan. They can’t just summarily dismiss people without any consultation or notice. It’s 800 jobs across the country.” The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said it was seeking legal advice to challenge the sackings and is calling for mass demonstrations. Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the Transport Select Committee, said P&O had shown “contempt” for its staff. “If they do not reverse immediately and reinstate the employees and follow proper process, it’s hard to see a way back for them commercially,” he said. “The parent DP World needs to understand that the British public will not do business with companies who treat their employees with such contempt.” Labour’s shadow transport secretary had by far the strongest words, giving it to P&O with both barrels: “This is not a corporate restructure. It’s not the way we go about business in this country. It is beneath contempt; the action of thugs.”

• HOLDING FIRM: It is now more than three full weeks since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. And despite having a much bigger army, his troops have still not been able to take control of Kyiv. Much has been written about the menacing 40-mile long convoy snaking its way towards the capital, but it is no longer certain that Russian forces will launch a full-scale assault on Kyiv, western officials have said, raising doubts for the first time since the war began over whether the Kremlin is prepared to pay the huge costs any such attack would incur. Russian forces have made little progress in recent days, while suffering significant losses, which have left them considerably weakened and unable as yet to encircle the city, Kim Sengupta, our defence and diplomatic editor, writes in a dispatch from Kyiv. In its latest update, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said: “Russian forces have made minimal progress this week. Ukrainian forces around Kyiv and Mykolaiv continue to frustrate Russian attempts to encircle the cities. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain encircled and subject to heavy Russian shelling.” Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv’s mayor, said earlier on Telegram that several missiles hit a facility used to repair military aircraft and damaged a bus repair facility, though no casualties were immediately reported. The plant had suspended work ahead of the attack, the mayor said. The missiles that hit Lviv were launched from the Black Sea, but two of the six that were launched were shot down, Ukrainian air force’s western command said on Facebook. We’ll have the latest updates on our liveblog.

• DIRTY TRICKS: Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, accused Russia of “dirty tricks” yesterday after revealing that he was contacted by an imposter claiming to be Ukraine’s prime minister but “terminated the call” after becoming suspicious. In what appears to be a breach of security, the defence secretary said the caller claimed to be the country’s prime minister and posed “several misleading questions”. It was not immediately clear how an imposter was able to reach Wallace, or whether they had first contacted the MoD. Posting on social media, the cabinet minister said: “Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me.“He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call. “No amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks can distract from Russia’s human rights abuses and illegal invasion of Ukraine. A desperate attempt.” Priti Patel, the home secretary, then revealed she too had been targeted. “This also happened to me earlier this week,” she said. “Pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us. We stand with Ukraine.”

• SECOND JOBS CLIMBDOWN?: Does the PM think he’s got away with it again? Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and cost of living squeeze, the government has written to the Commons standards committee – currently consulting on new rules for second jobs following the sleaze scandal sparked by the lobbying activities of Owen Paterson – to suggest that curbs on MPs raking it in while they are supposed to be serving their constituents are not needed after all. As the anger of the fiasco has subsided, “it is the government’s initial view that the imposition of fixed constraints such as time limits on the amount of time that members can spend on outside work would be impractical,” cabinet minister Steve Barclay wrote. “In respect of a cap on earnings from outside work to impose such a limit could serve to prohibit activities which do not bring undue influence to bear on the political system,” he added. Barclay’s view is in stark contrast to those espoused by several of his colleagues amid the scandal, including Dominic Rabb, the deputy prime minister.

• BREXIT WOES: It is uncertain whether Brexit free trade agreements negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government will provide “any actual economic benefits”, an influential committee of MPs has warned. In a scathing report released on Friday the Public Accounts Committee said the department of international trade had been too secretive and not kept parliament properly informed about what it was doing. Jon Stone, our policy correspondent, writes: “It’s clear the UK’s Brexit trade deals are about political – not economic – gain.”

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