All ferry operators sailing from UK ports could be forced to pay at least the minimum wage in a bid to get P&O to u-turn on its sacking of almost 800 staff.

The cross-Channel operator caused outrage when it sacked 786 staff over Zoom, sent handcuff-trained security guards to escort them off ships and replaced them with agency staff earning far below the minimum wage.

Former P&O worker in Dover calls for greater protection of maritime workers

Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite – who earns £325,000 a year and gets two performance-related bonuses – says the average wage on board is now £5.50 with no one earning less than £5.15.

The minimum wage is £8.91, increasing to £9.50 on April 1.

He says that's legal as ferry operators are bound by maritime law and not UK employment law.

But ministers will introduce legislation in the Commons later this week that could change that.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is said to think the move will make P&O Ferries "see reason and step back".

In a letter to Mr Hebblethwaite, Mr Shapps wrote: “I will be bringing a comprehensive package of measures to Parliament to ensure that seafarers are protected against these types of actions in the way that Parliament and this Government already intended.

“Through that package, I intend to block the outcome that P&O Ferries has pursued, including paying workers less than the minimum wage.”

The Cabinet minister repeated his call for Mr Hebblethwaite to resign, describing his position as “untenable”.

He has given Mr Hebblethwaite a chance to reverse the move before "forcing him to do it".

But the Rail, Maritime and Transport union says it wants staff rehired on their previous terms and not just the minimum wage.

Mr Hebblethwaite last week admitted breaking the law but told MPs he'd do it all again" to save the company.

P&O says its £36.5 million compensation package for sacked staff is the "biggest in maritime history", with some staff getting more than £170,000.

It is understood that 430 workers have fully accepted their redundancy offers, while almost 70 members of staff, mainly senior crew members and captains, had signed new contracts.

In the Commons this afternoon, Transport Minister Robert Courts said Mr Hebblethwaite’s position at the head of the company was “untenable”.

“We are quite clear, however, about the position of that individual in question… his position is untenable and he ought to go.”

However, he declined to say whether the P&O boss’s removal would be included in the package, due to be announced later this week.

Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson asked if removing Mr Hebblethwaite was under “active consideration”.

The Labour MP added: “Will one of those measures be the removal of the chief executive as a director under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986?”

Mr Courts said: “I know that a number of members will wish me to start talking about individual measures and I hope she will forgive me that I won’t do that.

“We will come to the House and explain what that package of measures are.

“We are quite clear, however, about the position of that individual in question… his position is untenable and he ought to go.”

On Friday, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) seized P&O's European Causeway ferry in Northern Ireland over "failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training".

P&O's competitors DFDS and Stena Lines will meet the Department for Transport today to discuss the planned changes to the law and concern over the possible disruption to Easter holiday travel as P&O's ferries faced an 11th day stuck in the Port of Dover.

The firm previously said it lost £1m every day it was out of action.

Last week, talks between P&O and staff collapsed after 20 minutes as the RMT called for a "total boycott" of the firm.