Analysis: Forgemasters job losses take more shine off northern powerhouse

CUTS pose uncomfortable questions for the Government.
Sheffield Forgemasters is cutting jobsSheffield Forgemasters is cutting jobs
Sheffield Forgemasters is cutting jobs

THEY would never admit it, but for politicians some job losses are more palatable than others.

It all depends on what type of jobs they are. If the jobs in question are perceived by the public to be part of an old-fashioned industry, a hangover from a bygone era, then they pose little political threat.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But if they are considered skilled jobs in important industries then the Government of the day has a problem.

That’s why the job losses at Sheffield Forgemasters are a problem for David Cameron and George Osborne.

Forgemasters is not an old-fashioned metal-basher, this a company that produces parts used on Trident nuclear submarines and in nuclear power stations but is cutting staff at a time when the country is preparing to invest in both.

Ministers hail the transition to advanced manufacturing and yet now jobs are being lost in a city at the cutting edge of that transformation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And to top it all off, Sheffield is at the heart of George Osborne’s vision to create a northern economic ‘powerhouse’ and yet one of the city’s major employers is making one-in-seven staff redundant.

The Sheffield Forgemasters job losses beg fundamental questions of the Government’s rhetoric on manufacturing, skills and the economy of the North of England that it will struggle to answer.