No 10 distances itself from Louise Haigh after port giant pauses investment

ITV News’ Economics and Business Editor Joel Hills has the latest on DP World’s threat to reconsider a UK investment plan over comments made by the transport secretary

Downing Street has distanced itself from transport secretary Louise Haigh after DP World threatened to pull £1 billion of investment from the UK.

ITV News understands DP World has been upset by Haigh’s comments, made in an interview with ITV News, where she called DP World’s subsidiary company P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” and encouraged consumers to join her in boycotting the company.

The comments came two and a half years after P&O caused outrage by firing almost 800 seafarers and replacing them with cheaper foreign agency workers.

The company was paying some of them as little as £5 an hour and asking them to work up to 17 weeks without a day off.

The transport secretary was visiting Dover to announce new legislation, which she promised would end controversial fire and rehire practices and force companies to pay seafarers operating from Dover to Calais the minimum wage. P&O Ferries insists the sackings were necessary to save the company from bankruptcy.

A Downing Street source told ITV News “Louise Haigh’s comments were her own personal views and did not represent the views of the government”.

DP World was due to announce the major investment in London Gateway port at the government’s Investment Summit on Monday. The company is now reviewing that announcement.

However, ITV News also understands that comments made by Haigh alongside the announcement in which she called P&O Ferries “cowboy operators” were signed off by Downing Street.

When asked about the news earlier today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer dodged the question instead insisting the government is delivering on its plans to bring investment to the UK.

“In the last four weeks, we’ve had at least five or six huge investments in the UK… this is the sort of change we need to see,” he said.

A government spokesperson later said: “We welcome P&O Ferries’s commitment to comply with our new seafarer legislation. We continue to work closely with DP World which has already delivered significant investment in the London Gateway and Southampton ports to help deliver for the UK economy.”

Since 2009, DP World has invested more than £2 billion in both the London Gateway and the Port of Southampton.

Monday’s summit will see hundreds of business leaders and investors descend on London as the government seeks to drum up the private investment it says is vital to achieve its aim of economic growth.

Despite today’s blow, the government insists Monday’s summit will be a success and will “show Britain is open for business”.