THE GOVERNMENT will take legal action against P&O after it axed 800 staff and replaced them instantly with a cheaper workforce.
Boris Johnson has told the Commons that it appears the ferry company “broke the law” in its actions last week, and confirmed the government will be taking action.
He was challenged by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on his knowledge of the sackings and what he will do about it.
Mr Johnson said: “We are taking legal action against the company concerned.
“We will take them to court, we will defend the rights of British workers.”
He said he believed the company, which is owned by parent firm DP World, had broken the law as it “has a duty to notify the government 45 days before they take action of that type” and that legal action would be taken under the 1992 Employment and Labour relations Act.
Mr Starmer asked if the Prime Minister would ensure the firm did not recieve "another penny" of taxpayers money until the staff were "reinstated".
He said: "Since the Prime Minister came to office, P&O received over £38million of Government contracts and the parent company DP World is lined up for £50 million of taxpayers' money under the Free Port scheme.
"The government is apparently reviewing these contracts, but reviews don't save jobs.
"Can the Prime Minister guarantee that these companies will not get a penny more of taxpayers' money or a single tax break until they reinstate the workforce?"
Mr Johnson repeated that he will take the company to court, and added: "I have already said we are taking legal action against the company under under the 1992 Employment and Labour Relations Act.
"That is the right thing to do because it seems to me that they have broken the law.
"And if he's asking this government to do what they usually want us to do which is to actively pitchfork away investment around the country.
"That is not what we will do. We will take them to court.
"What we will not do is launch a wholehearted campaign against overseas investment - that is completely wrong."
After the announcement, LibDem MP Alistair Carmichael said: "If this is the advice that the government has received then they may act immediately. P&O Ferries must be made to fill the full force of the law.
"Failure to act will mean that instead of being an example to avoid, other companies, especially in the shipping industry, will see them as an example to follow."
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford told the Commons that as he was speaking, a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to Warsaw was getting ready to take off, to bring a group of children to Scotland after fleeing Ukraine.
The group of orphans have been helped by the charity Dnipro Kids, which was set up by Hibs fans after the team played in Dnipro, Ukraine, in 2005.
Boris Johnson said the success in getting the orphans out of Ukraine and to safety was an example of the collaboration between Scottish and UK governments.
Mr Blackford then focussed on the rising cost of living, saying that the Conservatives have presided over a regime of rising taxes and created a poverty crisis.
He said: " This morning, we have official confirmation that inflation is at its highest in 30 years.
"But families don’t need official confirmation to know that the cost of food, fuel and energy are now at a price they simply can't afford.
"The very people who bore the brunt of the health pandemic are now being hammered by a Tory poverty pandemic.
"This is not just a cost-of-living crisis - this is an emergency."
Mr Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, added that Chancellor Rishi Sunak should "put down the selfie stick" and pay attention to consumer expert Martin Lewis,
He said: " Family finances are at breaking point. They can't tighten their budgets any more.
"These families have no room to manoeuvre - but the truth is that the Chancellor does.
"Lower borrowing and increased taxes mean that he is sitting with £20 billion to spend today."
He asked if the PM would commit to use this money to "scrap the National Insurance tax hike and put money into people’s pockets - or will he make this Tory poverty pandemic even worse?"
Mr Johnson replied: "I only have to advise Mystic Meg over here that he has only 10 minutes to wait before he has the answer to that question."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel