Starmer defuses DP World row in bid to salvage £1bn port deal

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A row between the UK government and Dubai-based ports company DP World which had threatened to overshadow Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship investment summit has been defused after an intervention by the prime minister. 

The company had said on Friday it might shelve a £1bn investment in its London Gateway port, or at least delay its announcement, after a cabinet minister criticised working practices at its subsidiary P&O. There were also reports that some of its executives could cancel their visit to Monday’s summit in London. 

Earlier this week Louise Haigh, transport secretary, called P&O a “rogue operator” because of its firing and rehiring of nearly 800 workers two years ago, prompting a storm of criticism at the time. Last week the Labour government produced a package of employment reforms including a ban on ‘fire and rehire’ practices. 

In an attempt to defuse the row, Starmer told the BBC on Saturday that Haigh’s comments were not “the view of the government” — a shift from earlier in the week, when Number 10 signed off a press release describing P&O as a “rogue operator”. 

On Saturday DP World said the company welcomed the prime minister’s intervention.

“Following constructive and positive discussions with the government, we have been given the clarity we need. We look forward to participating in Monday’s international investment summit,” DP World said.

A government spokesperson said on Saturday that DP World’s decision to press ahead with the investment was a “vote of confidence in the stability and seriousness of the government”. 

“We welcome the jobs and opportunities it will create,” the spokesperson said. “As our international investment summit will show, Britain is once again open for business.”

The company is now expected to announce its £1bn investment in London Gateway during Monday’s summit, according to government officials, although DP World was unable to confirm this. 

People close to DP World had said on Friday that its chief executive, Sultan bin Sulayem, was still planning to attend the summit despite the ministers’ comments, arguing that the firm was led by commercial realities rather than politics.

The row has highlighted the tensions between the government’s determination to improve workers’ rights and its efforts to attract investment from around the world. 

Some executives invited to Monday’s conference have expressed concern about its organisation, not least given the government’s indication that the Budget later this month will include tax rises.

But Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg and former New York City mayor, wrote in the Times that he had never been more bullish about the future of the British economy. 

“I have never put much stock in threats by the wealthy to abandon a great city [London] over taxes and, as far as companies go, if taxes are the difference between success and failure, you do not have a business,” he wrote. “There is every reason to believe that the UK’s best days are still ahead of it.”