Transport Secretary slapped down in ferry firm row as £1bn investment plan's paused

Sir Keir Starmer has slapped down Transport Secretary Louise Haigh after her scathing criticism of P&O Ferries reportedly jeopardised a £1 billion investment in the UK.

The Prime Minister said her call for a boycott of the ferry firm was "not the view of the Government".

Dubai-based DP World, P&O's parent firm, is reported to have been planning to announce a major investment in the UK at the Government's International Investment Summit next Monday.

But, according to Sky News, that investment is under review after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Transport Secretary Ms Haigh repeated criticism of P&O Ferries.

The operator was criticised by politicians from both main parties 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.

Asked whether Ms Haigh was right to call for a boycott of the firm, which she called a "rogue operator", Sir Keir said: "Well, that's not the view of the Government."

Asked about the DP World situation, Sir Keir told the BBC's Newscast: "Well, look, I think we'll resolve that.

"But... I think if you look at the last three or four weeks, you've seen £40-plus billions' worth of investment."

On Wednesday, Ms Rayner and Ms Haigh introduced legislation to prevent similar actions, with the Transport Secretary describing P&O Ferries as "cowboy operators" and Ms Rayner saying the incident had been "an outrageous example of manipulation by an employer".

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."

On Friday, Sky News reported that DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem ordered Monday's announcement to be cancelled and the planned investment in the company's London Gateway port to be reviewed.

Monday's high-profile investment summit will be used by the Government as a chance to champion firms who have already committed billions of pounds to the UK and attempt to woo others who are considering new deals.

Sir Keir said: "The proof of the pudding in terms of the strategy we've adopted is 'are those big numbers coming in for investment?'

"The answer to that is yes. And I'm confident there'll be more coming out of the summit as well as those that'll be coming in to the summit."

But it has not been plain sailing - as well as the DP World issue an email blunder led to the contact details of business chiefs being shared with other attendees.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) referred itself to the data protection watchdog over the error but the PA news agency has been told no further action will be taken.

Officials had sent an email about the summit without using blind carbon copy (BCC), meaning the contact details of several business leaders including French tycoon Bernard Arnault were displayed to other recipients.

Mr Arnault, who owns the luxury goods firm LVMH, has an estimated net worth of 182 billion dollars (£139 billion) and is ranked as the world's fifth richest person by Forbes.

The DBT said the blunder had been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office.