Ministers and trade unions have condemned P&O Ferries’ mass sacking of 800 British seafarers to replace them with agency crew as shameful and “completely unacceptable”, amid furious calls for action against the company’s Dubai owners. P&O Ferries’ services could be suspended for up to 10 days, disrupting its cross-Channel and Irish Sea routes, after an extraordinary day in which the operator sacked its entire British seafaring staff without notice. They learned the news of their redundancy via a pre-recorded video message this morning. Politicians on both sides called on the government to act to stop what Labour and trade unions called a “scandalous betrayal”. Staff were told by P&O to discharge passengers and freight before being sent a video message telling them P&O “vessels will be primarily crewed by a third-party crew provider … Your final day of employment is today.” Long-serving crew were removed from ships by security guards in Dover, Kent, and in Larne, near Belfast. Replacement agency workers, typically a cheaper option and believed to have been recruited in the UK and Europe, had already boarded some vessels in Dover on Thursday afternoon. Unions had instructed members to stay onboard as they demanded urgent government intervention, but by the evening the potential for prolonged standoffs ended, when crew in Hull left their ship. Earlier, the Dutch captain of P&O’s Pride of Hull had supported crew who refused to leave.