Israel and Palestine

Debate between Graham P Jones and Mark Hendrick

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Hendrick]

I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to one member, not members, of the PA, and it is not the majority view among Palestinians. The majority view is that Israel should exist alongside them, and a two-state solution is what most people would want in Israel and Palestine.

The negative impacts of the E1 plan on the prospects of a viable and independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, cannot be overestimated. If fully implemented, E1 would deny East Jerusalem its last remaining area for future growth and economic development. In addition, the location of E1 and its massive size would assure Israeli control over the key junction area connecting the northern part of the west bank to the south.

Israeli ambassadors to the UK, France, Sweden, Spain and Denmark were summoned to hear condemnation of the plans, but no further action has been taken, unless the Minister can give me an update.

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it should not be a surprise that the E1 development is going ahead, given that all the infrastructure was in place for quite a while and that this announcement comes on the back of all the roads and other infrastructure that already exists in that area, which is problematic in itself?

[Mark Hendrick]

The fact is that that infrastructure should not be in place and that Israeli settlements should not be on Palestinian land—full stop. To say that it is a result of previous illegal development, and that there should therefore be future development, is illogical.

BAE Systems (Lancashire)

Debate between Graham P Jones and Mark Hendrick

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)]

BAE Systems recently announced 1,423 job losses in Lancashire, including 822 at the Warton site in the constituency of the hon. Member for Fylde (Mark Menzies), 565 at the Samlesbury site in your Chorley constituency, Mr Deputy Speaker, and a further 136 elsewhere in Lancashire. Many of the highly skilled workers who will find themselves out of work live in Preston and the surrounding area of central Lancashire.

The chief executive of Preston city council, Lorraine Norris, has written to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Friend of the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), who is here to reply to this debate, and in a fairly detailed letter that makes its points quite strongly, Ms Norris, with the support the Labour administration in Preston, says:

“Lancashire provides the greatest number of direct and indirect aerospace jobs in the country and while individuals affected by BAE redundancies may be able to find work elsewhere by moving to other parts of the country, their skills will be lost to the local economy and the Lancashire economy weakened. Because of their long lead in time, skilled jobs lost in this way cannot easily be replaced when the country’s economic fortunes improve.”

She goes on to say:

“Preston has been successful in moving away from an economy dominated by low-value manufacturing linked to the textile industry”—

like Yorkshire—

“and broadening its economic base. We have been able to retain and expand high value manufacturing jobs linked to advanced engineering, with strengths in both the aerospace and nuclear sectors. With our partners we have been working hard to improve links between industry and the Higher Education sector—particularly with the Universities of Manchester and Central Lancashire… As a result in the decade up to 2008 we have been able to demonstrate the third highest increase in private sector jobs in the country.”

The Government talk about rebalancing the economy. Nobody and no area has done more to rebalance it than Preston and central Lancashire, given that many civil service and public service jobs were located there, and that of course it has a large private sector.

Unemployment is at a 17-year high. In Preston it stands at 5.2%, compared with 3.9% nationally, and almost 5,000 people are seeking employment, which is the highest level since jobseeker’s allowance was introduced. BAE Systems employs about 40,000 people in the UK, down from 42,000 in 2009. Many of those jobs are based in the north-west, and given the work’s technical nature the majority of workers are highly skilled.

Let me give the Minister some facts and figures. In Preston and Fylde, one in four residents working in manufacturing works at BAE Systems, principally at the Warton and Samlesbury sites. Between 2008 and 2010, Preston lost 4,800, or 5.1%, employee jobs, against a fall of 2.4% in the 12 districts of Lancashire and a drop of 3.4% nationally. That is a tragedy. The success of the company is therefore vital to the regional and national economies. BAE makes a direct contribution to them, and many other jobs in Lancashire are dependent on BAE. It has been independently estimated that each aerospace job creates four or five related jobs in the supply chain. There is therefore a multiplier effect on unemployment and the economic picture is far worse than the headline figure suggests.

The announcement of more than 1,400 job losses is a devastating blow, first and foremost for the workers and their families, but also for the local economy and Britain’s wider manufacturing and defence industries. As cuts are made and contracts go overseas, a highly skilled work force are being lost. I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills some weeks ago to ask what steps the Government are taking to limit the impact of the job losses, but I am sorry to say that, despite the urgency, I have yet to receive a reply.

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

I asked the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills about an employment impact assessment, but have yet to receive a credible reply. It seems that no such an assessment has been made. Does my hon. Friend agree that it appears that employment is considered to be a price worth paying? EADS and the Italian workshare contractors are making no one unemployed—that was reported in the Financial Times on 3 October—but the Government seem to think that it does not matter if 3,000 people are made unemployed.

[Mark Hendrick]

I agree. Although the enterprise zones are a welcome addition to Lancashire, they are a sticking plaster to try to cover the running sore that the job losses have become in Lancashire. The announcement of 1,400 job losses is a devastating blow.

A key area of development at the Warton and Samlesbury sites is the manufacture of the Eurofighter Typhoon jet. It recently flew its first major combat mission, serving in the skies over Libya to help the national transitional council in its war against Gaddafi, which is testament to the need for the aircraft. The production work is taking place in three tranches. Tranches 1 and 2, involving the production of 384 Typhoons, are now complete, and include 144 jets ordered by the previous Labour Government, with the remainder going to our European partners. The Labour Government also signed up to tranche 3A, which is the subject of the current defence cuts. The coalition Government are now planning to halve the UK’s tranche 3 order. BAE will cut its production from 61 to 36 jets annually, resulting in thousands of job losses. How can the Government justify massive cuts to our defence industry when the economy is edging towards recession? These cuts go too far, too fast and are resulting in the slowdown in production of the Typhoon aircraft.