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

Sir Keir Starmer faces calls to sack his transport secretary after she almost wiped out £1 billion of investment in the UK.

Last week Louise Haigh 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, owner of P&O Ferries, threatening to cancel the planned £1 billion investment.

The Prime Minister was forced to disavow Ms Haigh’s comments and insist the Government did not share them.

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

She told the Daily Mail: “Since Louise Haigh became transport secretary, she has made bad decision after bad decision – giving trade unions a series of huge pay rises at the expense of others (and) calling on people to boycott the company on the way to the UK investment summit.

“Despite 14 years in opposition, Labor was clearly not ready for government.

“They need to take this seriously and Keir Starmer should consider Louise Haigh’s position.”

Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the public accounts committee, added: “All this is because virtually none of the cabinet members have ever run a business. They don’t know what it’s like to employ people and encourage them to invest and make money and that’s it.

“This is truly incompetent and very unusual. If we continue like this, it will give the country a really bad reputation internationally and we will have much greater difficulty in encouraging investment in this country, which is absolutely essential if we are going to grow our economy.

– Should she leave? It depends on the Prime Minister. He could get rid of her if he wanted to.

DP World later confirmed it was still participating in its flagship investment summit in London after receiving “the clarity we need” from the government.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds yesterday admitted the Government had to “talk” to the company to secure investment following a row over the Transport Secretary’s comments.

P&O Ferries faced criticism in March 2022 when it abruptly dismissed 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mostly foreign workers, saying it was necessary to prevent bankruptcy.

Last Wednesday, Ms Haigh and Deputy First Minister Angela Rayner 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 was an “outrageous example of employer manipulation”.

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

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