London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Government knew of P&O Ferries sackings the day before, No 10 admits

Labour and unions demand immediate action including suspending licences of parent company DP World
Unions and the Labour party have demanded immediate action over the sacking of 800 British crew by P&O Ferries, including suspending the licences of its parent company, DP World, as it emerged the government was made aware of the move the previous night.

Amid public calls for a boycott of P&O and protests at ports, unions demanded the government urge the firm to reverse its decision, and curb DP World’s involvement in planned freeports.

The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “This was a despicable assault on workers’ rights. But British seafarers do not need meaningless platitudes – they need action.”

She has written to the prime minister proposing the government should claw back taxpayers’ money claimed by DP World, including £10m in furlough payments; suspend its licences to operate until the situation is resolved; and remove it from the government’s transport advisory group.

“The government must now stand up for loyal workers in Britain being undermined by overseas billionaires,” she said. Labour would also like the government to legislate to outlaw “fire and rehire”.

The defence minister, James Heappey, said on Friday morning that it would be “the right thing to do” for P&O to hand back £10m in furlough money, calling the company’s behaviour “disgraceful”.

He told Sky News: “It certainly feels to me that it would be the right thing to do for P&O to hand that money back, and I am sure that colleagues at the Treasury and Department for Transport will be looking into it. It’s absolutely disgraceful behaviour by P&O.”

Sources at the DfT said it was made aware of the impending mass sackings and suspension of ferry services on Wednesday night.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson had said on Thursday: “We weren’t given any notice to this.”

He confirmed on Friday that senior officials at the DfT had first been informed about the firm’s plan on Wednesday evening but had kept the information within a small group, because of concerns about commercial sensitivity.

The spokesperson said ministers were investigating whether P&O Ferries broke the law, describing the firm’s behaviour as “extreme”.

“We expect companies to treat their employees fairly. It is only in extreme circumstances that employers need to make extreme decisions to secure the future of their businesses if all other avenues have failed, including negotiations between employer and employees.

“We don’t believe this was the case for P&O staff,” he said, adding: “We are looking into this very carefully.”

He also said he did not think P&O was discussed when Johnson visited the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. DP World is owned by the government of the UAE.

The RMT union’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “The fact that the government knew the day before that a foreign owned company planned to cause major disruption to UK ports but did nothing to prevent it is shocking.”

He said the union had “been overwhelmed by the widespread public and political support”, adding: “But there is still time to reverse this shameful decision and today we are presenting a plan of action which needs to be acted upon immediately and if necessary, the government should introduce enabling legislation to make it happen.”

The RMT has called for a suspension of contracts with P&O and for DP World’s freeport interests in the UK.

The boss of the maritime union Nautilus called the mass sacking “a new low”, as he prepared to join protesters at Dover.

Mark Dickinson, the general secretary of Nautilus International, said demonstrations were also planned in Hull and Liverpool on Friday.

“It is a dark day for the shipping industry. I have been in this industry for over 40 years and I’ve seen some curve balls and shocking developments, but this is a new low for a shipping company – to treat due legal process in such an underhand and callous way has shocked me, it has taken my breath away,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Beth Hale, an employment lawyer at CM Murray, said P&O’s actions were “almost certainly” not within the rules and could potentially mean directors are criminally liable.

“What they ought to have been doing is consulting with staff, consulting with the unions about potential dismissals, considering whether there were any suitable alternative roles, going through the processes,” she told Today.

“They also ought to have made a formal notification to the government, about the proposed dismissals – when there are dismissals in these numbers that’s a legal obligation and so there is potential criminal liability for directors as well, so it’s potentially an enormous breach.”

Dickinson said Nautilus and RMT were “actively progressing” legal action over the move on Thursday by loss-making P&O Ferries to sack staff, halt services and look to bring in cheaper agency crew to run its vessels.

“It is clearly illegal,” he said. “The company is duty-bound to consult with trade unions. We have have collective bargaining agreements for all the affected seafarers, for all the vessels on all the routes. We are actively progressing that.”

Dickinson said the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency would have to be “absolutely clear and confident” that the cheaper agency could do the job safely.

“They are unfamiliar with the vessels, the routes, the berths. Crossing the English channel – the busiest shipping lane in the world – is like walking across a six-lane motorway at rush-hour,” he said. “This is an intensely worrying situation.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×