P&O owner to attend summit despite row over Louise Haigh’s comments

P&O Ferries owner, DP World, will now attend the government’s investment summit on Monday, despite a row over a minister’s criticism of the firm.

It had been feared they might pull out from the summit – where they were expected to announce a £1bn investment – after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh criticised the ferry firm and urged consumers to boycott the company.

An expansion of the firm’s London Gateway port, in Essex, is likely to go ahead, although it is unclear if this will be announced at the summit.

Whitehall sources said on Saturday that there had been “warm engagement” between senior figures in the firm and the government since Sir Keir Starmer distanced himself from his minister’s remarks.

The government is hosting the International Investment Summit, where it hopes to attract billions of pounds of investment.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Sir Keir said Haigh’s comments were “not the view of the government”.

The prime minister is understood not to have been directly involved in talks with DP World, nor has he personally spoken to Haigh about her remarks.

The row started after Haigh described P&O as a “rogue operator” in an interview with ITV on Wednesday, after it sacked nearly 800 seafarers in 2022 and replaced them with cheaper workers.

Asked whether she used the ferry service, she said: “I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years and I would encourage consumers to do the same.”

DP World insisted the move was needed for the survival of the ferry operator and to secure thousands of jobs.

Haigh’s comments in the interview coincided with the Department for Transport announcing new legislation aimed at protecting seafarers from what it described as “rogue employers”.

In that announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was quoted calling P&O Ferries’ prior actions “outrageous”.

The row has exposed a tension between the new government’s desire to attract business and strengthen workers’ rights.

The government previously indicated that it was in talks with DP World about its involvement in the summit.

DP World has said the expansion of the London Gateway port would bring Thurrock hundreds of jobs.