Aviation Sector

Mick Whitley Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mick Whitley (Birkenhead) (Lab)]

The north-west aerospace cluster is the largest in the country, contributing more than £7 billion to the UK economy and employing thousands of people, so this is an issue of great importance to my constituents, and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate. I thank the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman) for bringing this critical debate before the House.

Allow me to declare an interest: before I had the great privilege of representing the people of Birkenhead in this House, I served as north-west regional secretary for Unite the union. During that time, I represented many of the thousands of aerospace workers who now find their jobs under threat, including Rolls-Royce employees at Barnoldswick, where many operations are now being moved to Singapore. I am sure I will not be alone in condemning that decision as utterly shameful and as endangering the world-leading status of British aerospace.

At the height of the pandemic, I applauded the speed and enthusiasm with which British aerospace companies responded to the ventilator challenge. It demonstrated an industry that is versatile, highly skilled and able to diversify quickly to meet the needs of the nation. We call the industry world beating for a reason. With British aviation facing unprecedented challenges, however, the need for a comprehensive recovery strategy has never been clearer. The Government say they need to bring together trade unions and industry leaders to save jobs, protect apprenticeships and lead the charge towards a carbon-neutral sector. I would also stress the importance of mitigating job losses through diversification, focusing on socially useful production, especially the medical goods and green technologies that will be so essential in the years to come.

The Government have long recognised the pressing need for such a strategy, and yet this week they have announced that their recovery strategy will only be published some time in the autumn. That is utterly shameful. I also call once again on the Chancellor to act against companies that accepted money from the job retention scheme and then cut jobs. The Government’s inaction so far has already caused irreparable devastation. Thousands of jobs have been lost, many more are set to be offshored, and the industry is drawing ever closer to falling off the furlough cliff edge. Time is fast running out. The Government must act now.