Starmer faces calls to sack key Cabinet member after £1bn investment row | Politics | News

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to sack his Transport Secretary after she almost derailed £1 billion worth of investment in Britain.

Louise Haigh last week branded P&O Ferries a “rogue” operator and called for a boycott of the shipping company after it sacked 800 workers in 2022.

Her comments led to Dubai-based DP World, which owns P&O Ferries, threatening to cancel a planned announcement of £1 billion investment.

The Prime Minister was forced to disown Ms Haigh’s remarks and insist they were not shared by the Government.

Tory shadow transport secretary Helen Whately is now leading calls for Sir Keir to consider sacking the former Unite shop steward.

She told the Daily Mail: “Since becoming Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh has made poor decision after poor decision – giving unions a series of massive pay rises at the expense of others [and] calling on people to boycott a company on its way to the UK’s Investment Summit.

“Despite 14 years in opposition, Labour clearly were not ready for government.

“They need to get serious and Keir Starmer should be considering Louise Haigh’s position.”

Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who is chairman of the public accounts committee, added: “This all stems from virtually none of the Cabinet having ever run a business. They don’t know what it’s like to employ people and encourage investment and make a profit and everything else.

“This is really incompetent and very extraordinary. If we go on like this, it’ll give the country a really bad international reputation and we will have much more difficulty in encouraging investment into this country, which is absolutely vital if we’re going to grow our economy.

“Should she go? That’s up to the Prime Minister. He could get rid of her if he wanted.”

DP World later confirmed it is still attending the flagship investment summit in London today after getting “the clarity we need” from the Government.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds yesterday admitted the Government had to “have a conversation” with the firm to secure its investment after a row over the Transport Secretary’s comments.

P&O Ferries was criticised in March 2022 when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas, staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy.

Ms Haigh and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner last Wednesday introduced legislation to prevent similar actions.

In a Government press release, the Transport Secretary described P&O Ferries as “cowboy operators” and Ms Rayner said the incident had been “an outrageous example of manipulation by an employer”.

The release specifically highlighted P&O among “rogue employers” and said it would “close a loophole exploited by P&O Ferries”.

In an ITV interview Ms Haigh went further, saying: “I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years, and I encourage consumers to do the same.”