Railway regret

For, less than four months after the rhetorical flourishes of the Chancellor’s Budget speech, this is the excuse behind which Ministers are hiding following the decision to deny a key contract to Britain’s sole remaining train-maker, Bombardier.

The fact that the contract for 1,200 new carriages for the Thameslink route went to the German firm Siemens may not be the only reason why Bombardier has now been forced to announce more than 1,400 job losses, but it is deeply embarrassing for a Government that has pledged to revive domestic manufacturing.

This embarrassment is compounded by the Government’s failure to explain precisely why it made this decision.

On the one hand, Rail Minister Theresa Villiers has declared that the Siemens bid represented the best value for money. Yet, on the other, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond seems to be saying that Ministers’ hands were tied to a process set in motion by the former Labour government and, had EU procurement law offered them a choice, the outcome might have been different.

This confusion is no comfort whatsoever to those workers whose jobs are now under threat. Nor does it instil confidence in the Government’s ability to guide Britain’s economy back to growth.

For, at a time when the nation is looking to its manufacturers to carry it through, and when its railways are crying out for new rolling-stock, the decision to deny investment to Bombardier seems glaringly like an open goal badly missed.