Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what representations he has made to Bombardier on retaining jobs at the Belfast site.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland spoke with the Chief Operating Officer at Bombardier last week, where he discussed the current position of the company and the particular impact of COVID-19 on the aerospace sector, which, in this case, has resulted in the company making a commercial decision to restructure their workforce.

I was saddened to hear of the job losses which have been announced. I understand the company will continue to work with the trade unions to explore opportunities to mitigate the number of redundancies, including potential retraining and redeployment of members of the core workforce.

The UK Government has set out a package of measures to protect businesses and employees through this period of disruption caused by COVID-19, including to the aerospace sector. This support, together with Government-backed finance, provides businesses with the best possible chance to weather the current crisis. We will continue to work with business, trade unions and the Northern Ireland Executive to get the economy back up and running, and laying the foundations for a stable and sustainable recovery for Northern Ireland.