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Rachel Reeves has said she “wouldn’t have any problems” getting on a P&O ferry following the fire-and-rehire scandal.
The chancellor was asked to clarify her position after criticism by her colleagues almost derailed a planned investment announcement from the travel operator’s owner ahead of a crucial summit.
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P&O Ferries caused a huge controversy in 2022 when it suddenly sacked 800 seafarers and replaced them with cheaper foreign agency workers.
It emerged on Friday that its Dubai-based owner, DP World, considered pulling £1bn in funding to its London Gateway container port after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh branded P&O, its subsidiary company, a “rogue operator” and called for a boycott.
In an interview with Sky News, Ms Reeves distanced herself from Ms Haigh’s remarks, saying: “I wouldn’t have any problems with getting on a P&O ferry.”
She said the £1bn investment, which was ultimately saved after a weekend of frantic negotiations, was “really important” as it will “bring good jobs, pay decent wages… and expand our capabilities to import and export around the world”.
In a tweet in March 2022, Ms Reeves hit out at the P&O lay-offs, calling it “disgraceful behaviour” and saying it should be illegal.
Asked if she does not care where investment comes from, the chancellor said her government has introduced laws to protect seafarers from future mass sackings.
“Under the Conservatives, it was possible to fire and rehire workers. It was possible to have exploitative zero hour contracts. We’re ending that,” she said in reference to the Employment Rights Bill.
Pressed on whether Labour’s workers’ rights agenda can chime with the need for private investment, Ms Reeves said governments can be “both pro-worker and pro-business”.
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