Sir Keir Starmer facing calls to sack his Transport Secretary

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to sack his Transport Secretary after she almost torpedoed £1billion worth of investment in Britain.

Louise Haigh said last week she backed a boycott of P&O Ferries and branded it a 'cowboy operator' after it sacked 800 staff in 2022.

Her remarks led to the Dubai-based cargo-logistics giant DP World, which owns P&O, saying it would cancel a scheduled announcement of the £1billion investment.

This forced Sir Keir into disowning Ms Haigh by saying her comments were not shared by the Government.

Sources said officials spent the weekend 'hitting the phones' to repair the relationship with the firm. DP World did a U-turn and confirmed the investment after saying it had received 'the clarity we need'.

The company also said that its chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, would now be attending the International Investment Summit in London today.

The fiasco had threatened to overshadow the summit, which ministers hope will attract tens of billions worth of new investment into the UK.

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DP World's announcement is set to be a centrepiece of the event.

Yesterday, a No 10 source insisted Sir Keir 'retains confidence' in Ms Haigh after some Labour MPs privately said her position was 'untenable'. There is also growing speculation she faces the axe when the PM holds his first Cabinet reshuffle.

Helen Whately, the Tories' transport spokesman, is now leading calls for Sir Keir to get tough and consider sacking Ms Haigh. She said: 'Since becoming Transport Secretary,

Louise Haigh has made poor decision after poor decision – giving unions a series of massive pay rises at the expense of others [and] calling on people to boycott a company on its way to the UK's Investment Summit.

'Despite 14 years in opposition, Labour clearly were not ready for government. They need to get serious and Keir Starmer should be considering Louise Haigh's position.'

Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who is chairman of the public accounts committee, said: 'This all stems from virtually none of the Cabinet having ever run a business. They don't know what it's like to employ people and encourage investment and make a profit and everything else.

'This is really incompetent and very extraordinary. If we go on like this, it'll give the country a really bad international reputation and we will have much more difficulty in encouraging investment into this country, which is absolutely vital if we're going to grow our economy.

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'Should she go? That's up to the Prime Minister. He could get rid of her if he wanted.' Ms Haigh has already had a dressing down from the PM over a bumper pay deal she agreed for train drivers.

The agreement for a 14.25 per cent hike was announced in August – only for drivers' union Aslef to announce fresh strikes just 48 hours later.

Yesterday, it also emerged she green-lighted £300 bonuses for train guards if they agreed to work five days a week.

Guards who typically work four-day weeks for train operator CrossCountry had threatened to strike every Saturday this month.

Former Tory business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'Louise Haigh, like most socialists, has no understanding of business. She should concentrate on wasting taxpayers' money on train drivers rather than offending our major trading partners.'

A Government spokesman said: 'DP World's 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. By working in partnership with businesses and investors from all over the world, [we] are unlocking the UK's potential and ambition.'