Lancashire MPs demand action over BAE Systems job cuts

Lancashire MPs have written to Prime Minister Theresa May demanding immediate action to avert the “disaster” of job cuts at BAE Systems in the county.

And Preston MP Mark Hendrick raised the matter in the Commons after being granted an urgent question in the chamber yesterday.

He ramped up the pressure on the government to commit itself to a sixth-generation fighter jet developed and built in the UK.

The MPs want to see a “taskforce” set up following the news 750 jobs are to be cut at the defence giant’s Warton and Samlesbury plants. The company blames the decision on slowdowns in the Typhoon and Hawker programmes.

There are fears that the cuts will have a major impact on Lancashire’s aerospace supply chain, a vital part of the local economy.

Mr Hendrick quizzed business minister Claire Perry on the likelihood of more than 1,000 BAE Systems jobs being lost across the North of England.

She told him the government would be providing an update, explain the rationale and explain what the government was doing to support this sector and BAE Systems.

Mr Hendrick said: “Today’s announcement is a huge blow to thousands of workers and their families across Lancashire in the run up to Christmas.

“The majority of Lancashire MPs have today written to the Prime Minister seeking immediate action and offering to establish a taskforce to avert this disaster. Can we ask the minister for a swift, meaningful and positive response?

“What intermediate and longer term action is being taken by the government to win contracts around the globe, to fly the flag and to sell the Eurofighter Typhoon and Hawk as this is essential to sustaining UK’s leading edge technology and sovereign capability as well as highly skilled jobs and a massive supply chain in the North West.

“In order to maintain a leading edge, we must look to the future. BAE has developed a £12m skills academy in Lancashire. “Will the government play its role and announce an industrial strategy for aerospace and commit itself to assisting BAE in developing a sixth generation manned fighter aircraft?”