A TORY Minister has been blasted as a “liar” by maritime union RMT over his failure to take action against ferry firm P&O.

The allegation came at the annual conference of the North West region of the TUC on Saturday.

After a year of inaction by the government following the unlawful sackings of nearly 800 mariners at the company, RMT delegate Craig Johnstone recalled the Commons speech by then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps days after the sackings.

Quoting Mr Shapps’s speech, he said: “Where new laws are needed, we will create them,” he said, adding the word: “Liar.

“Where legal loopholes are cynically exploited, we will close them. Liar.

“Where employment rights are too weak, we will strengthen them. Liar.”

Mr Johnstone accused the government of being in collusion with P&O in its failure to introduce laws to prevent “another P&O.”

Earlier, Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union general secretary Sarah Woolley told conference as a guest speaker that other employers were following P&O’s example and sacking workers with impunity.

She said that in Scotland the billionaire owner of seafood processor Dawnfresh had called in administrators and sacked workers mid-shift and walked away leaving taxpayers to pick up the redundancy bill.

Ms Woolley said the employer “threw generations of the same families into absolute poverty overnight.

“We have seen more recently a venture capital organisation which boasts of having £90 million in the bank do exactly the same to our members in the north-east and Midlands.”

The conference backed an RMT motion calling for support for the union’s campaign for stronger legislation against rogue companies.