Brittany Ferries

EDM number 836 in 2004-05, proposed by John McDonnell on 07/03/2005.

That this House is deeply concerned at the recent announcements by Brittany Ferries that it is pulling out of the acquisition of two P&O Ferries vessels on the Western Channel; notes that P&O Ferries have stated that it intends to discontinue services on the Portsmouth to LeHavre route from September 2005; believes that the decision of the Office of Fair Trading not to approve the acquisition of these ships by Brittany Ferries, and the consequent lengthy referral to the Competition Commission, has damaged the United Kingdom ferry industry and led to the potential dismissal of 270 UK seafarers; further notes that if neither operator continues services there will be no ferry service from the United Kingdom to Caen, Cherbourg or LeHavre and that these dismissals are in addition to a further 900 redundancies for United Kingdom seafarers recently announced within the P&O Ferries Group; and therefore calls on the Secretary of State for Transport to intervene in this matter with the companies concerned and to ensure that the United Kingdom ferry industry retains a core of United Kingdom seafaring skills.

This motion has been signed by a total of 39 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.