The Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries is expected to benefit from at least £50m of UK taxpayer support as part of the government’s freeport programme, raising questions over its role in the scheme after the sacking of 800 workers.
DP World, the Emirati logistics giant behind P&O, runs the UK’s second- and third-biggest shipping terminals at Southampton and London Gateway – locations among the first 12 freeports in the UK to be picked by the government last year as a flagship part of its levelling-up agenda.
