We now know the full impact of the Government's disastrous decision to award the contract for building the new fleet of Thameslink Trains to Siemens in Germany, instead of the UK Bombardier plant, potentially spelling the end of train manufacturing in Britain.
Tens of thousands of supply chain jobs in nearly every constituency in the country will be affected. According to research from the RMT Union, East Sussex firms in the Bombardier supply chain include:
Longsite Management and Logistics of East Dean, Tuthill Controls Group in Hailsham Southdowns Environmental Consultants in Lewes, and Deutche UK in Hastings.
On top of the thousands of job losses we now know that that nearly 250 apprenticeships and engineering jobs for new graduates from the Bombardier “Centre of Excellence” will be lost if the government fails to reverse the decision to send the Thameslink fleet contract overseas. With nearly a million young people out of work, kicking the legs from under a skills and training Centre of Excellence is a further major blow to youth employment.
We have also learnt from parliamentary answers that more accountants than engineers advised the Government on the contract. Of the nine government officials involved in the project only two had an engineering background.
It was also shown that the government spent ten times as much for advice from lawyers and accountants than engineers. It is shameful that the procurement exercise has been dominated by accountants and management consultants on fat fees while the skills , and engineering excellence of Bombardier at Derby has been totally ignored.
Please support the Parliamentary Rally and briefing to save Bombardier jobs on Wednesday 12th October, 12.30pm, at Committee Room 10, House of Commons, London.
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