The Dubai owner of P&O Ferries is no longer involved with a key freeports project amid anger over the mass sacking of 800 seafarers last month. 

DP World resigned from the board of Solent Freeport last month and is no longer a partner in the consortium. 

It comes after Green party peer, Natalie Bennett, asked the House of Lords if there were plans to withdraw P&O contracts for freeports following a backlash against the ferry operator. 

Ministers previously warned that DP World’s role in the freeport scheme was at risk. 

The Dubai-based company is a key part of the project, which is aimed at turbocharging post-Brexit trade by creating low-tax zones at hubs across Britain. 

The Solent Freeport, backed by Rishi Sunak last year, is expected to cost £2bn and create more than 25,000 jobs in the Southampton area. 

The £4.5bn Thames Freeport, where DP World was also involved, is intended to create more than 20,000 jobs.

Lord Greenhalgh, a levelling-up minister, said: “The Government is continuing to work to understand whether DP World or P&O Ferrymasters are in breach of any of the requirements on them as investors in the Thames Freeport.” 

DP World was in line for £50m in taxpayer support as part of its commitment to the two projects.

Last week, the company’s UK commercial director, Aart Hille Ris Lambers, resigned from the board of the Solent Freeport following local pressure. 

Peter Hebblethwaite, the chief executive of P&O Ferries, admitted last month that the company broke the law with the mass firings but said he would do so again if he had to. 

The business claimed it needed to sack the staff to be financially viable as it was losing £100m a year. It said replacing staff with agency workers will halve its wages bill.

The Insolvency Service started a criminal investigation earlier this month.

DP World was contacted for comment.