P&O owner DP World has reportedly scrapped a planned £1 billion investment and will boycott PM Kier Starmer’s Investment summit next week after criticism from two senior ministers.
DP World said it was dropping plans for the expansion of the London Gateway container port after Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Transport Secretary Louise Haigh both blasted P&O for its record on the treatment of staff.
In 2022, P&O fired 800 British workers and replaced them with overseas staff at much lower wages.
Alongside the announcement of the government’s new Worker’s Rights bill this week, which also introduced new laws for seafarers, Haigh described P&O as a rogue operator that should be boycotted.
Rayner meanwhile said that P&O's actions in 2022 were "an outrageous example of manipulation by an employer".
DP World’s decision will be a major embarrassment to Starmer, with Sky News saying that the London Gateway plan was expected to be one of the centrepieces of the summit, which starts on Monday.
Instead, its chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem will not now attend the event in the City said the report.