P&O Ferries - live: Boris Johnson calls for CEO to resign

In Thursday’s committee session at Parliament, Peter Hebblethwaite, chief executive of P&O Ferries, provided an insight into the planned cut-price operation for the firm’s operations, particularly on the key Dover-Calais route.

Seafarers live on board the ships and generally work 12-hour shifts.

Crew will work on board the ship for two weeks on/two weeks off, rather than the current one week on/one week off.

At an average wage of £5.50 per hour, they will earn £66 for each 12-hour day. They are provided food and accommodation on board. That is £41 less than they would earn at the National Minimum Wage.

Mr Hebbelthwaite said he had a basic salary of £325,000, with short-term and long-term incentive bonus schemes.

Assuming a 40-hour week and four weeks’ holiday, his hourly rate is £169.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said the government “can’t directly” revoke P&O’s licence when asked why the company was still operating after having broken the law.

He told BBC Breakfast he had instead asked the Maritime Coastguard Agency to carry out “very detailed inspections”.

The minister said if new crews were being paid under national minimum wage and found to be unfamiliar with equipment, the ships would be deemed unsafe to sail.

Presenter Sally Nugent asked him: “You can freeze the assets of Russian oligarchs but you can’t for example revoke P&O’s licence?”

He replied: “At the moment we can’t directly, but I’ve already asked the Maritime Coastguard Agency to carry out very very detailed inspections of the ships.

“We do have some mechanisms. There are a whole load of other things happening including letters going out to the ports from which they sail, then, as I mentioned, different types of legislation will be forthcoming, so we are going to make sure P&O have to U-turn on this.”

Reporting by agencies.

Union leaders are to hold talks with P&O Ferries on Friday to demand the reinstatement of sacked seafarers.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said it will be meeting with the company following the huge outcry over the dismissal of almost 800 workers.

More protests are being planned this weekend as unions keep up the pressure on the company and the government to take action.

P&O’s chief executive admitted to MPs on Thursday that the law had been broken in the way the seafarers had been treated.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “RMT will be holding talks with P&O today to demand the reinstatement of our sacked seafarers.

“We welcome the massive public and political support for our campaign.

“P&O Ferries need to change course and reinstate these loyal key workers.”

Reporting by agencies.

Grant Shapps has said the government is planning to change the law to ensure companies working from British ports pay people the minimum wage.

It comes after P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite admitted on Thursday that its new crews are being paid below the UK’s minimum wage apart from on domestic routes, but insisted this is allowed under international maritime rules.

The transport secretary told Sky News the move from the government would force a “U-turn on what’s happened at P&O”.

“What I’m going to do … is come to Parliament this coming week with a package of measures which will both close every possible loophole that exists and force them to U-turn on this,” he said.

“We are not having people working from British ports … plying regular routes between here and France or here and Holland, or (anywhere) else, and failing to pay the minimum wage. It’s simply unacceptable and we will force that to change.”

Asked if the government will change the law to enforce this, he said: “That’s exactly the plan.”

Reporting by agencies.

Grant Shapps said P&O Ferries was trying to “distract attention” from its failure to provide notice of job cuts by claiming it informed him of its plans last year.

The company’s chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, said on Thursday that Mr Shapps knew about the intention to slash jobs in November, although that was strongly denied by the Department for Transport.

Asked if Mr Hebblethwaite was “lying” about this, the transport secretary told Sky News: “I’ve sent the note, actually, from the meeting in November, which was with a parent company – DP World – when I was at World Expo, where they simply said the competition’s very tough, the conditions are very tight … and they’ll be looking at the shape of their business. I’ve actually sent the formal civil service note of that meeting.

“I think we can all see that what they’re trying to do is distract attention. The fact of the matter is that they needed to give 45 days’ notice to ministers, in fact to the Secretary of State for Business, if you’re making these kind of redundancies. They did not do that, they did not provide the notice.”

Asked when he first became aware of the crisis at P&O, he said: “I was actually stood at the despatch box on Thursday when news started to come out about it. For completeness, I should say that the night before I was informed by my office that there’d be another round of redundancies at P&O.

“But P&O have made redundancies in the normal way in the past, including particularly during coronavirus, and so that in itself, whilst obviously really unfortunate – if they’d gone through the normal consultation process, worked with the workers, worked with the unions, we wouldn’t be sitting here where we are today.”

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s travel liveblog, where we’ll be following all the latest news and updates.