Responding to the texter, who accused Dale of “talking nonsense”, the LBC presenter said that the firing of 800 staff from P&O cruises is “nothing to do with Brexit!”. It follows news that the defiant boss of the cruise company, Peter Hebblethwaite, has refused to resign or rehire dismissed crew despite a letter from the transport secretary Grant Shapps demanding a U-turn.
Dale dismissed the idea that Brexit had anything to do with the issue, claiming that if British governments tried to block sales of companies to foreign buyers, the same discourtesy would be afforded to British buyers.
He said: “Of course, any government can stop any foreign company from buying a British one if they really want to. But be prepared for the consequences of that.
“Because if a British government tries to do that, then you can bet your bottom dollar that other countries will try to stop British companies buying up foreign companies.”
Remainers have been quick to blame Brexit for the Government’s apparent inability to force P&O Ferries to go back on their decision.
EU employment law is less flexible than British law, and some have suggested that had Britain remained in the Union, the sackings would not have been possible.
Others have suggested that Brexit ought to have enabled the Government to block P&O’s resale to Dubai-based company DP World, a company owned by the prominent Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, in 2019.
DP World has come under fire before for paying £270 million in dividends to its shareholders during the pandemic while P&O cut around 1,100 jobs due to a collapse in travel demand.
P&O Ferries revealed in a statement that its parent company had been covering £100 million losses year on year, which is described as “not sustainable”.
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The move to sack 800 staff without warning to replace them with cheaper agency workers payable at a rate of £5.50 an hour was listed as a means of saving the company from its financial difficulties.
The sackings have been described as “appalling” by Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee.
He said: “The Government should make it clear that it will not condone this behaviour. P&O’s parent company, DP World, must understand that British customers won’t do business with companies that treat their staff with contempt.”
But Professor Catherine Barnard, a legal scholar at the University of Cambridge, said that the UK has not taken advantage of its post-Brexit freedom regarding employment law.
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She said: “[EU employment law] was carried over into UK law as retained EU law and has not been amended.”
However, she added that it is easier to fire employees under UK employment law than it is under EU rule.
She said: “The reality is that UK employment law on dismissal was and still is flexible.
“It is easier in the UK to fire employees than elsewhere in Europe, and that is what P&O seem to have done, by making what contract lawyers call an efficient breach.”
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