The Deputy Prime Minister is reportedly furious at being blamed for the disastrous start to the PM’s international investment summit.
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Angela Rayner is said to be spitting feathers after she and the Transport Secretary were accused of jeopardising a £1 billion investment in the British economy just days before Keir Starmer’s investment summit.
On Friday P&O Ferries owner DP World pulled their planned investment in its London Gateway container port after the deputy Prime Minister joined Louise Haigh in condemning the firm as an “unscrupulous” and “exploitative” employer.
The condemnation came after their 2022 controversy in which they sacked 800 employees and replaced them with cheaper overseas agency staff.
A spokesman for the company then confirmed their major investment was under review – a huge blow to the Prime Minister as it was set to be one of the centrepieces of tomorrow’s summit.
Sir Keir Starmer is now struggling to contain the internal furore after Ms Rayner and Ms Haigh were accused of “student politics” that has hit real-world jobs and livelihoods.
Ms Rayner and Ms Haigh are facing calls to be sacked (Image: PA)
This morning, The Observer has reported the pair are “hopping mad” at Downing Street after the Prime Minister threw them under a bus.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast on Saturday, the Prime Minister said that Ms Haigh’s call for a boycott of the firm was “not the view of the government”.
However, the pair’s condemnation of P&O Ferries was published in an official government press release earlier this week.
Labour insiders told the Observer: “It shows the tension between the workers’ rights stuff and the investment stuff. This is going to keep happening unless we sort out the comms and the grid.”
Labour MP Ian Byrne has also come out in favour of Ms Haigh’s position, saying: “Lou Haigh is right to refer to P&O Ferries as a rogue operator.
“They sacked their entire workforce without notice, via video call replacing them with agency workers.
“These are the practices of a rogue operator which should never be forgotten or forgiven by our movement.”
P&O Ferries were condemned for fire and rehire in 2022 (Image: Getty)
Meanwhile a Labour MP told the Telegraph that the Transport secretary has been made a “scapegoat”, as well as demanding to know why Angela Rayner has not been blamed in equal measure.
Other Labour MPs are suggesting the Transport Secretary’s position is now “untenable”, with one blasting: “I can’t see how she’ll survive this.”
However, Keir Starmer is standing by his ministers despite the public humiliation, with a No10 source insisting he still “retains confidence” in the Transport Secretary.
The Tories are on the attack over the major cock-up, with Kemi Badenoch telling the Mail on Sunday: “Labour’s student politics was bad in Opposition. In Government, it is costing us real money and real jobs.”
“To watch £1 billion and thousands of jobs nearly disappear because of Louise Haigh’s foolish comments is painful because we’ve still got five years of this, and at this rate there won’t be much of an economy left.”
Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said the row speaks “to Labour’s general attitude to the private sector”.
