BAE to shed nearly 2,000 jobs

Some 750 workers at BAE Systems Warton and Salmesbury sites in Lancashire are to lose their jobs as a result of reduced demand for Eurofighter Typhoon where it is manufactured.

The job cuts are among nearly 2,000 announced by the listed defence company today in the wake of widespread speculation yesterday.

The Lancashire losses are among 1,400 to go from BAE’s military air and information business, which also include 400 in Brough on Humberside.

The move is part of a “re-organisation and rationalisation” programme effective from January 1, 2018.

“These changes will drive competitiveness, accelerate technology innovation and deliver continued improvements in efficiency and operational excellence,” it said.

Meanwhile, the UK’s biggest defence workers’ union, Unite, is calling for an urgent meeting with the management.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said: “The UK government can end the uncertainty surrounding the future of thousands of British BAE defence jobs at a stroke by committing to building the next generation fighter jets here in the UK.

“BAE must also come clean on its plans. Unite is demanding urgent discussions with the company.

“If these job cuts materialise it will significantly undermine our nation’s sovereign defence capability and leave us reliant on foreign powers and foreign companies for the successor to the Typhoon and the defence of the nation.

“Ministers should be under no illusion. Once these jobs are gone, they are gone for a generation and with them the skills and ability to control our own defence and manufacture the next generation of fighter jets and other defence equipment in the UK.

“The ripple effects down the supply chain and through our manufacturing communities would be immense too, hitting the workforces in other cutting-edge companies that are involved in the manufacture of one of the best fighter jets in the world, as well as depriving communities of decent well-paid jobs.”