MP's fears for Ansty works as India snubs British jets

[dutchman]

The government has been accused of failing British industry and making Rolls-Royce at Ansty prone to more cuts following the failed bid to sell jet fighters to India.


Rolls-Royce's Ansty works

The accusation came from Coventry South Labour MP Jim Cunningham, who said Britain losing out to France in a bid to sell Typhoons for India’s defence fleet would “make Rolls-Royce Ansty more vulnerable”.

He questioned business secretary Vince Cable in the Commons after the Indians selected France’s Dassault ahead of the British bid as its preferred partner for the deal.

The Typhoon is assembled at BAE System’s aerospace facilities in Lancashire and suppliers include Rolls-Royce.

Mr Cunningham said, if successful, the EJ200 engines for an Indian Typhoon fleet would be built by Rolls Royce.

Rolls-Royce at Ansty repairs jet fighter engines and has already suffered more than 200 job losses in the last year following defence cutbacks in the government’s strategic defence review.

Mr Cunningham said losing out on the India deal would result in “a gaping hole in the work programme of the Bristol Rolls Royce site, which in turn puts Ansty in an extremely vulnerable situation, as work is likely to travel to Bristol.”

Mr Cunningham asked Mr Cable: “Will the Secretary of State clarify what is actually happening to the Typhoon contract? There was an implication that it could be renegotiated. If he fails to renegotiate it, will he blame the previous government?”

Mr Cable replied: “There is no question of renegotiation. The Indians have had a pre-selection process, from which the French bid has gone ahead on the basis of price.

“There is a lot of experience of contracts being reconsidered at the final stage, and at that stage BAE Systems has a very good case to make as part of its consortium. We will support it thoroughly.”

Trade Union Unite has warned losing the Indian contract would have “serious implications” for the British aerospace industry. MPs with Rolls-Royce workers in their constituencies, including Mr Cunningham, have been meeting ministers over the last year to discuss securing the Indian deal.

Mr Cunningham accused the government of “sitting on their laurels”.

He told the Telegraph: “Not only is this an embarrassing state of affairs for David Cameron and his record on supporting British industry, but it is disastrous news for the highly respected companies involved.

“The government make the wrong decisions on Bombardier, and then comes this cock-up. It is now time for them to stop blaming the previous government for their mistakes.

“We need to start seeing some evidence of an industrial policy that shows the government are committed to inducing growth in our prestigious manufacturing companies”.

[Spuffler]

Here we go again! The government can't hide behind claiming that it was due to EU rules or the last government's contract arrangements or anything like that this time!

Most governments have failed to back British industry for a long time now. The last government realised that it needed to do so late in the day, when it brought in the car scrappage scheme - but did it help British car makers? Almost certainly not; it largely only helped car dealers. I had a long involvement with international conferences and committees in the automotive business; it was painfully clear that foreign governments and their car makers were so much in cahoots they were like Siamese twins. Where was the British government? Observing with disinterest from a distance! Our companies always felt that they were going to these conferences with both hands tied behind their back.

Many of our MPs - and definitely our press - sit in their bunkers and shout "yah-boo-sucks" at the EC/EU and claim that we are done down by it/them. Rubbish! I have had a lot of involvement with the EC, the DTI, and the (then) DETR/DTp. I would far rather deal with the EC than any of Whitehall's departments. In my experience and opinion, there are few civil servants in Whitehall who are interested in anything whatsoever beyond their own promotion. As a once participant in the British government's SafeIT initiative, I can say that it took 2 years to get a simple project up and running in that initiative (1992-4) whilst DTI civil servants jockeyed for position and played internal politics. We had three or four project officers in a few months (93-4), having almost to start again with each one. Most other projects in that initiative failed even to materialise; companies were mostly never going to wait like that, and it's a miracle that our consortium had the patience for it. With the EC, once a project is approved, it rapidly comes into being, "or else"; why can't our own civil service be like that?

I'd be more than willing to bet that yet again Whitehall will fiddle, prevaricate, and avoid the issue over the Typhoon order, and someone there will probably end up with a knighthood when anything good fails to materialise - especially if Rolls-Royce ends up out of business in the process, they'd probably get a peerage for that. And of course, government will take Whitehall's advice and also do nothing. Then wring their hands afterwards and cry crocodile tears. It's about time our senior civil servants in Whitehall had a proper kick up the rear end, and be made to support our country's industries and their efforts. But there's more chance of pigs flying to the moon.