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BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nP&O Ferries owner, DP World, will now attend the UK’s investment summit on Monday, despite a row over a minister’s criticism of the firm.<\/p>\n
It had been feared they might pull out from the summit – where they were expected to announce a \u00a31bn investment – after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh criticised the ferry firm and urged consumers to boycott the company.<\/p>\n
An expansion of the firm’s London Gateway port, in Essex, is likely to go ahead, with an announcement expected by some in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Whitehall sources said on Saturday that there had been “warm engagement” between senior figures in the firm and the government since Sir Keir Starmer distanced himself from his minister’s remarks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The government is hosting the International Investment Summit, where it hopes to attract billions of pounds of investment.<\/p>\n A Downing Street spokesperson said the summit would “show Britain is open for business” as it looks to enable economic growth.<\/p>\n Later, a government source said the prime minister had confidence in Haigh. <\/p>\n A government spokesperson said: \u201cDP World\u2019s investment in Britain is a vote of confidence in the stability and seriousness of the government. We welcome the jobs and opportunities it will create.”<\/p>\n They added that the government was unlocking the UK’s “potential and ambition” by working in partnership with businesses and investors around the world. <\/p>\n DP World has said the expansion of the London Gateway port would bring Thurrock hundreds of jobs.<\/p>\n The United Arab Emirates-based company also owns Southampton Port.<\/p>\n It has yet to comment publicly on the latest developments.<\/p>\n Speaking to the BBC’s Newscast on Friday<\/a>, Sir Keir said Haigh’s comments were “not the view of the government”.<\/p>\n The prime minister is understood not to have been directly involved in talks with DP World, nor has he personally spoken to Haigh about her remarks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The row started after Haigh described P&O as a “rogue operator” in an interview with ITV on Wednesday, after it sacked nearly 800 seafarers in 2022 and replaced them with cheaper workers.<\/p>\n Asked whether she used the ferry service, she said: “I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years and I would encourage consumers to do the same.”<\/p>\n DP World insisted the move was needed for the survival of the ferry operator and to secure thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n Haigh’s comments in the interview coincided with the Department for Transport announcing new legislation aimed at protecting seafarers’ jobs from so-called “fire and rehire” practices of “rogue employers”.<\/p>\n In that announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was quoted calling P&O Ferries’ prior actions “outrageous”.<\/p>\n