P&O owner to be at summit after PM rebukes transport minister for 'cowboy' insult

The owner of P&O ferries will attend a key investment summit after Sir Keir Starmer insisted his administration did not endorse comments from a minister who called the firm a "cowboy operator".

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

After efforts by Downing Street to smooth relations, it is understood that DP World will now attend tomorrow’s gathering, despite the row over Louise Haigh’s comments about the firm.

The ferry operator’s Dubai-based parent company was expected to announce £1bn of investment in the UK at the government’s International Investment Summit, which is thought to be key to government plans to attract investment to the country.

But DP World was reported by Sky News to have pulled out of the event and placed its investment plans under review, after deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and transport secretary Ms Haigh’s repeated criticism of P&O Ferries.

The operator faced scrutiny by politicians from both main parties in March 2022 when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas, staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy.