Ports will get power to block ferry firms paying below minimum wage after P&O scandal

Grant Shapps has unveiled plans he says will block P&O Ferries’ attempt to secure a new seafarer workforce on the cheap after widespread outrage over the mass sackings of 800 crew.

The transport secretary told MPs he was to give UK ports the power to refuse access to regular ferry services that do not pay workers the minimum wage.

“I want to see British ports refusing access to ferry companies who don’t pay a fair wage, as soon as practical,” he told the Commons.

The plan formed part of nine measures being proposed by the government that, Mr Shapps said, would force P&O to “fundamentally rethink their decision” because of its “failure to see reason”.

“This will send a clear message to the maritime industry: we will not allow this to happen again. Where new laws are needed we will create them. Where legal loopholes are cynically exploited we will close them. And where employment rights are too weak we will strengthen them.”

The planned enforcement action via port blockades would follow checks by HM Revenue & Customs to identify ferry operators operating in UK waters that were not compliant with UK national minimum wage rules.

Mr Shapps said he was making the case for “minimum wage corridors” to be created between the UK and its major trading nations such as France, Denmark and Ireland as part of an overhaul of international maritime law.

He also revealed that he had instructed the Insolvency Service to examine the actions of P&O Ferries’ chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite.

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Mr Shapps said: “He set out to break the law and boasted about it to this parliament.

“So I’ve written to the CEO of the Insolvency Service, conveying my firm belief that Peter Hebblethwaite is unfit to lead a British company and I have asked them to consider his disqualification.”

Mr Hebblethwaite has steadfastly refused to reverse the decision, almost two weeks ago, to fire the 800 seafarers and replace them with crew on as little as £5.50 an hour.

Hundreds of those ordered off their ships have since accepted the redundancy package, which included top-up compensation for the company’s failure to consult on its plans on the grounds that P&O Ferries would have folded without immediate action.

However, P&O’s plans to resume sailings have been stopped in their tracks as two ships within the fleet were detained after the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) identified a series of safety failures.

“I have asked the MCA to review their enforcement policies, checking that they are fit for purpose both now and in the future,” Mr Shapps added.

The government’s plans, he said, would include a renewed focus on the training and welfare elements of flagship maritime strategy and the new statutory code to crack down on “fire and rehire” tactics by employers, already announced, would allow for a “25% uplift to a worker’s compensation” if rules on dismissals are not scrupulously followed.

Maritime workers, he said, “deserve far better than to be dismissed via a pre-recorded Zoom in favour of cheaper overseas labour”.

One employee who was sacked by P&O watched the announcement in the Commons on TV and told Sky News he was disappointed with the measures.

‘Tim’, not his real name, had worked for P&O for three decades and been holding off signing his redundancy contract in the hope something would change.

“There’s nothing good there, nothing for the people that have been sacked, nothing to help us get back to work, which I’ve really hoped there might be.

“They’ve not really done anything. They’ve made threats and some things, but tomorrow is the final day and where are we? We’re no closer to getting our jobs back. Getting us back on those ships, it’s not going to happen, and they’re not really too bothered are they?”

Labour welcomed the promises of action but Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, also described the steps as “the bare minimum” that “cannot come a moment too soon”.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, said: “Despite all the bluster, Grant Shapps has failed to grasp the opportunity to adequately stand up to the banditry behaviour of P&O.

“The prime minister repeatedly said to parliament that the government would be taking legal action save British seafarers’ jobs, but he has failed to keep his word.”