The UK government said on Friday that it would force P&O Ferries to do a U-turn after it fired 800 seafaring workers without notice to be replaced with agency crews paid far below the minimum wage.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also called for P&O chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite to resign, the day after he told a parliamentary hearing that the company chose not to consult unions on the move, as it was legally obliged to do.

“What the boss of P&O said yesterday about knowingly breaking the law was brazen, breathtaking, showed incredible arrogance, and I cannot believe that he can stay in that role,” Shapps told Sky television. He said he would “come to parliament this coming week with a package of measures which will both close every possible loophole that exists and force them to U-turn on this”.

The average hourly pay for the new crew is just £5.50 (€6.60) per hour, far below Britain’s minimum wage for people aged 23 years of £8.91 per hour.

The average hourly pay for the new crew is just £5.50 (€6.60) per hour, far below Britain’s minimum wage for people aged 23 years of £8.91 per hour

“We are not having people working from British ports, plying regular routes between here and France or here and Holland, or elsewhere and failing to pay the minimum wage. It’s simply unacceptable and we will force that to change,” Shapps said.

“My message to P&O is simple. Their wheezes are not going to work. We are going to legally require them to go back on it. They might as well start on that now,” he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson attacked the company’s actions as “callous” on Wednesday, saying the government would take P&O to court as it looked like it had broken the law.