A COMPANY at the heart of Solent’s £2billion freeport scheme is facing calls for it to be ousted from the project after it sacked 800 P&O Ferries staff.

DP World, which owns the ferry business and runs the Port of Southampton’s deep water terminal, has been accused of a “despicable assault on workers’ rights” after crews were laid off with immediate effect.

The transport union RMT wants the government to remove DP World from all government contracts including the Solent Freeport scheme.

Labour has also called on the government to consider terminating the contracts.

The Solent Freeport scheme, approved by the chancellor last year, is intended to bring more than 25,000 jobs to the region by creating economic zones with lower taxes and less red tape.

P&O Ferries – which is not related to P&O Cruises, operated by Southampton-based Carnival – laid off its 800 crew without notice on Thursday. It plans to replace them with cheaper agency staff, claiming the business would not be viable otherwise.

Dubai-based DP World bought P&O Ferries in 2019. Its ships go to continental Europe from Hull and Dover and also link Liverpool with Dublin.

The RMT has called on the government to remove any support for DP World “including freeports and directly support the retention of P&O jobs instead”.

A union spokesperson said: “There can be no place for them after the way they’ve behaved.”

Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, has called the sackings a “despicable assault on workers’ rights" and a “betrayal” of crews who kept the country stocked during the pandemic.

“Workers are now left wondering how on earth they will put food on their families’ tables. The management did not even have the decency to tell them face to face: they were told this life-changing news on a pre-recorded video,” she said.

She told Parliament: “It is quite simply a scandal that this Dubai-owned company, which received millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money during the pandemic has, without consultation or notice, upended the lives of 800 British workers, all while the profits of the owners, DP World, soared by 52 per cent in the first half of 2021.”

Putting a question to transport minister Robert Courts, she said: “DP World runs two of the government’s freeport schemes. Will he consider terminating those contracts?”

Mr Courts said he had asked officials to “review any contracts that may exist”.

READ MORE: Solent Freeport scheme 'will be game changer for Southampton'

READ MORE: What does £2bn Solent freeport plan mean for Hampshire?

Southampton Itchen's Conservative MP Royston Smith said: "DP World has acted despicably. Their treatment of staff yesterday was beyond reprehensible.

“We must first establish all the facts. Why have they sacked their staff? What happens now?

“Labour is typically jumping the gun for what they believe will be political advantage. But as the Port of Southampton has a large container operation run by DP World, what is it Labour thinks it will achieve by damaging freeports? As I see it, that will put even more jobs at risk and those will be Southampton Jobs."

Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test, said: “There are no circumstances where fire and rehire is acceptable, especially not on this scale. The government certainly need to look into the conduct of DP World and DP world need to be held to account for their actions.”

A statement from P&O Ferries said: "We know that for our staff this redundancy came without warning or prior consultation, and we fully understand that this has caused distress for them and their families.”

It said the business would not survive without redundancies.

“We also took the view, in good faith, that reaching agreement on the way forward would be impossible and against this background, that the process itself would be highly disruptive, not just for the business but for UK trade and tourism,” it added.

“We have offered enhanced severance terms to those affected to properly and promptly compensate them for the lack of warning and consultation.”

It said all staff who were at work on Thursday were notified face to face.

A spokesperson for the Solent Freeport Consortium Ltd, said: "The Solent Freeport proposal is led by a partnership of private and public sector organisations, covering the breadth of the Solent area. While developing our Solent Freeport proposal, we have engaged with DP World, alongside a number of other organisations, in the context of potential customs sites.

"We understand the situation is being reviewed nationally and we are committed to working with government to consider and respond to the findings of this review. We look forward to continuing to work with government in securing a freeport for the Solent area which will bring investment to our region, create jobs and help level up our important coastal communities."