Local MPs, Andrew Percy, David Davis, Alan Johnson and Diana Johnson visited BAe Systems at Brough last week to meet with management and unions for a further update on proposals to end manufacturing at the site. The visit came just days after it was announced that India looked set to purchase French built aircraft rather than the BAE built Typhoon aircraft as part of a major contract.

Andrew Percy says, "The news on the Typhoon aircraft is a further blow to BAe and we were keen to hear what impact it would have on the company. We also wanted to discuss what was happening on a number of specific fronts at Brough. In particular, we continue to have concerns about the business case put forward by BAe to justify the loss of manufacturing at Brough. We are supporting Union demands for an independent review of the business case which BAe are refusing to allow. My view is that if BAe are so confident in their case then they have nothing to lose from the process and the owe it to the workers to allow this review.

Our primary concern of course remains doing what we can to support those workers affected by this decision. It is to be welcomed that BAe have pushed back the redundancies as late as possible. They also updated us on efforts to find new work for this highly skilled individuals. However, many of these opportunities are elsewhere in the country which is not an option for many workers. As local MPs we are clear that we want BAe to do everything it can to find a third party to take over the site to continue manufacturing in Brough.

We continue to argue that the case for the loss of these jobs has not been made and we will do everything we can to support Brough and its workers."