Hundreds gather outside Parliament to protest about mass sacking by P&O Ferries

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Houses of Parliament today to protest about last week's mass sacking by P&O ferries.

Many former workers travelled up from Dover to London to make their voices heard alongside MPs and union officials.

The included Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner and RMT National Secretary Darren Procter, who said dedicated workers were being 'thrown on the scrapheap'.

WATCH: Angela Rayner, Labour Deputy Leader and Darren Procter, RMT National Secretary

There was also a lively debate inside Parliament, with anger on both sides of House about the way that P&O sacked its workers.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh accused the Government of doing nothing to protect ferry staff. 

She said: "Either the Government were bewilderingly incompetent or they were complicit.

"Either way there was a window of opportunity to protect the livelihoods of 800 British workers from an illegal act by a rogue employer and they did nothing."

WATCH: Louise Haigh and Grant Shapps in Parliament

And transport secretary Grant Shapps said: "In both 2020 and 2021 voluntary redundancies have been taking place in a way you would expect.

"So it was deeply concerning to see the footage of staff being forcibly removed from ferries, underlying a very cynical approach, not at all what we'd seen in those previous two rounds."