P&O Ferries

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I thank my hon. Friend for her incredible input into this. In Dover, she is right at the frontline of any impacts when ferries are not running. Her contribution, assistance and guidance have been absolutely invaluable. I will absolutely step up to her asks on this. I stress, probably on behalf of the whole House, that in this House we find it unacceptable that someone would deliberately, knowingly and wantonly go out of their way to break the law in sacking staff. We will not take that lying down. The law will be changed and I am afraid that P&O Ferries, although as of last night it did not realise it, will have to U-turn.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

I call Ben Bradley—I mean Ben Bradshaw. I am so sorry.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

Don’t worry, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a common and embarrassing mistake—for the other one!

Will the Secretary of State explain in a bit more detail why he thinks he does not have the powers to seek an injunction to prevent this company from behaving deliberately, disgracefully and, as he just described, illegally?

--- Later in debate ---

[Grant Shapps]

The hon. Lady will be interested to hear that I have considered an operator of last resort model. What happens at sea is somewhat different from what happens on the railways by the very nature of the fact that there is an open sea but there are specific rail lines. In this case, of course, we have the beauty of competition. We have Stena, DFDS and some others in that market, and they are plugging the gaps so that, from a capacity point of view, we are okay at this time.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

For the grand finale, I call Karl Turner.

[Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)]

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, for accommodating me. I want to thank the Secretary of State. This campaign has gone on not just for the 12 years I have been in this House; this campaign has existed since the 1966 seamen’s strike. I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman and the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Witney (Robert Courts), on getting over all the hurdles that must have been appearing in front of them, and I want to work with my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State to ensure that what the Secretary of State proposes will work and ensure that the minimum wage applies.

My concern is that these companies employ terribly bad practice, and I fear that they will find other ways to exploit seafarers. Safety is my big concern, so if conditions change or if rotas change—if seafarers are required to work five months on and a month off, for example—we will not be very far from disasters such as the Herald of Free Enterprise, in which passengers lost their lives due to crew fatigue. Can the Secretary of State assure the House that he is looking at ensuring that cannot happen in this case?

--- Later in debate ---

[Grant Shapps]

As I prefaced, I am hugely grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He has provided contacts, knowledge, expertise and experience through the last week and a half, as we have been discussing this issue, and I am incredibly grateful for his historical knowledge of the industry as well.

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that that is precisely what we are doing. In my comments, I said that we will be

“pursuing worldwide agreements at the International Labour Organisation.”

We will also

“push for a common set of principles to support maritime workers, including an international minimum wage, a global framework for maritime training and skills and tools to support seafarer mental health.”

I know these are issues for which he has been fighting for a very long time, and his time has come.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the Secretary of State for answering so many questions, and so quickly. Let us proceed.