Well, P&O are clearly "unscrupulous" and "exploitative" - let them take their business elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the likes of Rayner & Haigh, are behaving like they're still in opposition, when Labour behaved like little more than a tub-thumping "what about the workers - ain't it awful?" protest group. They've not lost any opportunity to trumpet their 'workers' rights package', so the legislation is in place to prevent employers from 'fire & rehire' practices. Hence, any inward investment by any company including DP World, owners of P&O, will need to comply with the new legislation.
An astute, pragmatic politician would know that you can't create a future by raking up the past, and some things are better left unsaid.
Starmer and Reeves are hosting a major summit on Monday, in the hope of attracting £billions of inward investment.
The finger was also pointed at Ms Rayner for her comments in the press release for saying: “What we saw with P&O Ferries was an outrageous example of manipulation by an employer and exactly why we’re taking bold action to improve job security in the UK.”
But it was later suggested that it was Ms Haigh’s threat to boycott the company over future behaviour which triggered the investment to be withdrawn.
Sir Keir then publicly slapped down Ms Haigh (BTW, privately educated at at Sheffield High School - an independent school), in an interview on the BBC’s Newscast podcast with political editor Chris Mason and Adam Fleming. When asked about the boycott comment, Starmer said:
“Well, look, that’s not the view of the government.”
But that's not the way that it will be seen. For reasons that elude me, Rayner is doing a very senior non-job as Deputy PM, and Haigh is Transport Minister,
so they're both members of the cabinet, and their words have weight and consequences. Now the Trade Unions are wading in, so they're all fighting like rats in a sack.
Mr Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union who led the negotiations with Labour on the worker’s rights package, warned Sir Keir that criticism of Ms Haigh was “unacceptable” and he praised her for taking on “rogue employers” like P&O’s parent company DP World.
So he too doesn't want £1bn from a company that would have to comply with new legislation, which in itself hasn't deterred DP World from considering investing? A pragmatic view would be that £1bn of investment and all the jobs it will create for employees on the much-vaunted new employee rights conditions would, and should, be welcome.
DP World’s decision was initially blamed on a press release agreed by Downing Street where Ms Haigh described the ferry company as “cowboy operators” over an infamous decision to fire and rehire 800 employees two years ago. The action outraged MPs across parties and helped shape Labour’s new workers package.
It outraged everyone - heck, I live on the outskirts of Hull, 4 miles from the P&O Ferry terminal, but that was then - this is now.
As to 'fire and rehire', that's what Starmer has done to Sue Gray.
Gave her a job on £170k a year - a higher salary than his own - then she drew up new contracts of only 3 months duration for SPADS, (Special Advisers who are the brains behind the scenes), paying them a third less. Then having sacked Gray, Starmer created a new non-job as 'Envoy to the Regions' but she didn't attend the inaugural meeting of the 'Council of Nations and Regions' in Edinburgh, and apparently wants a 'career break'.
If any of these were in business not politics and were behaving like this, the firm would go bust.
It's not about Labour or Tories - it's about responsible government which they promised we'd get.
Dire.
Sounds very civilised! They seem to be doing well on it and our occasional holidays in France are always a pleasure. Almost everything is better quality and value than the UK equivalent.
