Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 23 March 2022 that he will be taking steps to ensure all mariners who are working in UK waters are paid the living wage, what steps he plans to take to achieve that; and whether those steps will apply to mariners working in UK waters on vessels making international voyages.

We have already strengthened the minimum wage to apply to all seafarers ordinarily working in our territorial waters regardless of their nationality of where the vessel they are working on is registered. This means that routes operating within the UK, such as the Cairnryan - Larne route, are protected by our minimum wage. The other P&O Ferry routes are international and we are unable to apply our legislation to those vessels as they are outside our jurisdiction.

We will soon announce a package of measures that will ensure that the outcomes that P&O Ferries is seeking to achieve through this disastrous move cannot be seen through.