Jonathan Reynolds: Transport Secretary’s comments on P&O Ferries ‘not the government’s position’
This week, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh described P&O Ferries as a ‘rogue operator’ and encouraged consumers to boycott the company, leading parent company DP World to threaten they would pull out of the government’s investment summit on Monday, and put a reported £1bn worth of investment in the UK on hold. Keir Starmer said that Haigh’s comments were ‘not the view of the government’, despite previous government press releases using the same language, and DP World subsequently reconfirmed their attendance at the summit. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg this morning, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds echoed the words of the prime minister, and said that although P&O’s ‘fire and rehire’ scandal in 2022 was ‘wrong’, it was lawful at the time. Reynolds said that the Employment Rights Bill will make such practices illegal, and that the government wanted to work with DP World on ‘investments into the country’.
Reynolds hints at rise in employer national insurance
The October budget is fast approaching, and Labour pledged in their manifesto to not raise income tax or national insurance for ‘working people’.
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