Legal wrangling continues over the replacement of 800 P&O Ferries staff last week with agency staff - but one man has emerged as the scapegoat for potentially letting the company off the hook.

While unions and workers insist the action was unlawful, it has emerged the government might have given it an escape route four years ago.

Legislation to protect employees in the UK was amended by statutory instrument in 2018 so that the secretary of state does not have to be notified of mass redundancies in ships registered overseas. The dismissed workers' ships were registered in Cyprus and the Bahamas.

Whilst ministers now threaten P&O Ferries with unlimited fines, maritime lawyers say the 2018 amendment removed the need to notify the UK government and renders last week’s action lawful. P&O Ferries’ chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite has said that notification was made to the relevant authorities on 17 March, under the company’s statutory obligation.

The amended legislation largely went under the radar at the time but fingers are now pointing at the transport secretary who signed off on the change: one Chris Grayling MP. Lawyers who remember Grayling’s previous stint as lord chancellor may not be surprised.

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