Two cabinet ministers have mistakenly written strongly worded letters to an individual who left his role as P&O Ferries chairman last year.
On Friday afternoon, both Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps posted copies of their respective letters addressed to “the Chairman of P&O Ferries” Robert Woods, demanding answers over the company’s conduct after 800 employees were sacked without any notice.
But Sky News understands Mr Woods is no longer in this role, having retired last December.
It is believed Mr Woods was still listed as the firm’s chairman on P&O Ferries’ website.
Just over an hour later, Mr Kwarteng posted a new edition of the letter addressed to “Peter Hebblethwaite, CEO of P&O Ferries”.
P&O suspended sailings and handed 800 staff immediate severance notices
What does the letter say?
Mr Kwarteng’s letter states that the company “appears to have failed” to follow the process for large-scale lay-offs, including negotiations with employee representatives, and calls for P&O officials to answer 10 questions by the end of play on Tuesday.
Written jointly with business minister Paul Scully, it reads: “We are writing to you to express, in the strongest possible terms, the UK government’s anger and disappointment at the way that P&O Ferried handled the redundancy of so many of your staff this week.
“The way that staff, who have given years of dedicated service to P&O and played a critical role in keeping our country going during the pandemic, have been treated has been appalling.
“It therefore gives the government no pleasure to say that P&O has lost the trust of the public and has given business a bad name.”
The letter adds that the Insolvency Service has been asked to look into whether rules employers must follow when making large groups of staff redundant were adhered to by P&O bosses.
The 10 questions include clarifications over the exact number of staff fired and whether any consultation was carried out in advance, what other options were considered before this action was taken, and details of plans in relation to other UK-based staff.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
P&O sackings were ‘shoddy’
Labour mocks ministers over wrongly addressed letter
A similar letter posted by Mr Shapps was swiftly deleted from his Twitter account after the error became apparent.
Acknowledging her counterpart’s error, Labour’s transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “The Conservative government is a sinking ship. 48-hours after finding out that 800 British workers would lose their jobs, the transport secretary can’t even figure out the correct person to write to, to protect these workers.
“They deserve better. They deserve a Labour government who will act before the horse has bolted – by ending fire and rehire, and giving them security and respect.”
Ms Haigh, who joined a rally in Dover on Friday, described P&O’s actions as “nothing short of a national scandal”.
Demonstrations were also held at ports in Liverpool, Hull and Larne in Northern Ireland, and outside the London head office of owners DP World, amid growing anger at the sudden sacking of staff with no notice.
Attempts are being made to replace them with cheaper agency workers, but the company is facing a backlash, including calls for a boycott of its services.
Protesters gathered on Friday to stress their outrage against the move
What has P&O had to say today?
P&O Ferries has said the “difficult decision” to sack 800 staff on the spot was made as a “last resort” – and again insisted the business would not have survived otherwise.
In a new statement, the travel company said it “understood” the “distress” its decision will have caused and felt that “reaching agreement on the way forward” was “impossible”.
Following fierce criticism – including from Downing Street – it said it had made “all efforts” to notify workers personally of their redundancy and had acted in “good faith”.
Earlier, Downing Street warned of “ramifications” after the staff were replaced with cheaper agency workers.
The government is looking “very closely at the actions this company has taken” to see whether it “acted within the rules”, the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters.
Once the details have been examined, ministers will “set out any further steps”, he added.