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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Jason Beattie

'P&O Ferries sackings crush Tory claims that the market is a force for good'

In a speech last month Rishi Sunak claimed that markets were a "moral force for good".

He should tell that to the workers at P&O Ferries.

They will want to know what is moral about bosses sacking hundreds of staff by Zoom with immediate notice, or about the UK's feeble employment laws, which allow their jobs to be replaced by cheaper labour.

And what is moral about their Dubai-based parent company, DP World, making people redundant despite reaping the benefits of the UK furlough scheme.

This is a firm that has spent more than £100million sponsoring the European Golf Tour and Renault's F1 team but claims it can't afford to offer decent pay and conditions.

The captain of The Pride of Hull addressing workers on the ship as P&O announced all its staff were being made redundant (Karl Turner MP/HullLive)

Its treatment of staff is disgraceful but they operate this way because this Government has given the green light to the worst aspects of capitalism.

Tory MPs who yesterday protested against the casual sacking of workers belong to a party that has spent years making it easier for firms to do so.

The Government that yesterday complained about the use of fire and rehire is the same one that blocked legislation which would have prevented it.

P&O's move is not a one-off example of cut-throat corporate behaviour, it is a harbinger of what is to come as the Conservatives further erode long-standing workers' rights.

They will claim they are cutting "red tape" to make post-Brexit Britain more efficient but the reality will be more workers escorted from workplaces to make way for cheaper staff.

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