Business of the House

Christian Matheson Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

My hon. Friend will have an opportunity to raise this again at Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions next week. We will shortly set out the British energy security strategy to bolster our energy security. Ministers have been making every effort to keep the House updated on the Government’s response to the war in Ukraine, and I am sure the House will be kept updated on this important issue, too.

[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

The House is united in its condemnation of P&O’s actions in sacking 800 British workers, but this is only the latest in a long line of such incidents, and it will not be the last unless the Government introduce legislation to ban fire and rehire. What are the Government’s plans to introduce legislation to make sure this is the last scandal and to give British workers the support they deserve?

[Mark Spencer]

The House will recognise the irony of a Labour Member talking about banning fire and rehire, a practice that the Labour party used as recently as last year. Fire and rehire should be an absolutely last-case scenario when a company is in difficulty and wants to secure as many jobs as possible in order to survive. What P&O did last week was, frankly, a complete abhorrence. Its actions cannot be defended by anyone and should be condemned. We have employment laws to protect people, and we will make sure P&O follows the law.