P&O Ferries owner criticised for plan for Thames Freeport

A decision to allow the owner of P&O Ferries to be involved in a major new infrastructure project has sparked outrage after the firm sacked 800 workers without notice last year.

The government also canceled a contract with P&O Ferries in May, a decision it said was in response to the sackings.

On Monday, the government confirmed that it had approved plans for the Thames Freeport, and that it would be run by a partnership between Ford and DP World.

The port will receive 25 million dollars in government funding, which will go to local authorities as it works to attract 4.6 billion more in public and private investment.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said ministers should have stripped the company of all its public contracts and sever commercial ties after the P&O sackings.

The government has instead chosen to reward DP World with another bumper deal. This is giving a green light to other rogue employers to act with impunity. A DP World spokeswoman for Thames Freeport said DP World and its partners had invested heavily in port and logistics infrastructure over the past decade.

They said the new port would benefit from the levelling up of the region with more than 21,000 direct and indirect jobs created.

Local authorities will administer the government funding to benefit the entire region, while the freeport will receive potentially hundreds of millions in locally-retained business rates. Freeports aim to create economic activity near shipping ports or airports, like trade, investment and jobs. Goods imported into freeports are exempt from taxes, called tariffs, which are normally paid to the government.