BAE workers to lobby MPs over job cuts

Staff from the BAE Systems plant at Brough, East Yorkshire, are seeking support from MPs in the capital on Wednesday as they attempt to reverse the company’s decision to axe 899 jobs, which would end almost 100 years of aircraft manufacturing at the site.

The firm announced the planned redundancies in September as part of widespread cuts to its military aircraft division.

The workers will be accompanied by their families and their unions, Unite and the GMB, and a delegation also plans to hand a petition to Prime Minister David Cameron in Downing Street.

It includes photographs of the workers whose jobs are at stake and calls on the Government to do at all it can to protect them, arguing that they are vital to the future of British manufacturing.

Unite national officer Ian Waddell said: “These jobs may not be in the headlines any more but the fight to save them goes on.

“The Government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear. The UK’s defence industry risks losing the critical mass it needs to maintain its reputation as a world leader in defence manufacturing.

“The workers and their families are coming to Westminster to warn MPs that there is too much at stake to let Brough close.”