A TORY MP was jeered by angry demonstrators who chanted “shame on you” as she attended a protest against the decision by P&O Ferries to sack 800 seafarers.
Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, was heckled by union members outside Maritime House in the Kent town, with other protesters shouting: “You voted for fire and rehire.”
In October 2021, the Government blocked proposals introduced by a Labour MP to curb businesses’ abilities to lay staff off and take them back on different terms – a practice commonly referred to as ‘fire and rehire’.
Elphicke seemed to join in with demonstrators’ chants as she walked with them to Dover Port, where members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union spoke about the reasons why they decided to protest.
If you haven’t seen it yet:
— Mike Galsworthy 🇺🇦 (@mikegalsworthy) March 19, 2022
The MP for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, tried to join the protest over the P&O sackings yesterday, but was swiftly called out by the crowd for having voted against Labour’s attempt to put a stop to fire & rehire practices.pic.twitter.com/kPMYbTUBPu
She said she had been talking to the RMT about what could be done about the situation, and nodded her head in agreement with speeches made by members about how they will not stop fighting against the sackings.
Darren Procter, national secretary of the RMT, spoke to a crowd of around 250 demonstrators and vowed: “This is only the start. This is only day one.”
When asked how confident he is about workers getting their jobs back, he said: “We ain’t gonna lose. We ain’t gonna lose.
“We’re going to make sure our workers get back onboard their vessels.”
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh also visited the protest in Dover and described the sackings as “nothing short of a national scandal”.
She said: “I wanted to come straight down to Dover to stand with these workers and show my full solidarity.”
She added: “I will be taking action in Parliament next week to push the Government to take sanctions against P&O now, to push leverage on them, to force them to change course and if it’s not illegal … then we need to make sure it is immediately made so.”
The Dover protest was one of several port demonstrations, with others taking place in Hull, Liverpool and Larne in Northern Ireland.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel