{"id":8961,"date":"2016-06-09T16:35:55","date_gmt":"2016-06-09T15:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8961"},"modified":"2016-06-09T16:35:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T15:35:55","slug":"keep-defence-work-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8961","title":{"rendered":"Keep defence work at home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Defence secretary Michael Fallon has serious questions to answer about the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secretive procurement policy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the latest controversy being the decision to buy nine maritime patrol aircraft from America.<\/p>\n

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The deal to purchase the nine Boeing Poseidon P-8A\u00c2\u00a0 patrol aircraft, estimated to be worth $3.2bn, without competitive tendering, is expected to be signed at next month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Farnborough air show (11-17 July).<\/p>\n

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Unite, which has about 70,000 members across the aerospace, defence, and shipbuilding industries, is raising serious concerns about the lack of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098offset agreements\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the proposed Boeing deal, work that could be earmarked for British defence firms to safeguard skilled jobs.<\/p>\n

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This flies in the face of chancellor George Osborne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commitment to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunashamedly back \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a British success story \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 like aerospace\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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The current imbroglio comes as a result of the coalition government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098rash and short-sighted\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 decision to scrap the Nimrod Maritime Patrol Aircraft, as part of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) at a cost of \u00c2\u01414bn to the taxpayer and the loss of 1,400 skilled jobs.<\/p>\n

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This left the UK as the only major maritime nation without the capability to patrol its own waters with modern reconnaissance aircraft.<\/p>\n

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The threat to the UK defence industry is further compounded by media reports that Boeing is in line to receive the order for 50 much-needed Apache helicopters, rather than Yeovil-based Agusta Westland, with the potential loss of 600 West Country jobs.<\/p>\n

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Unite said that Michael Fallon has major questions to answer about the massive tilt in procurement policy, which analysts say, could amount to \u00c2\u01412.5bn of the annual Ministry of Defence equipment budget of \u00c2\u01418bn being spent with US companies, with minimal UK content, by 2020.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt a time of increased international tension and security concerns, defence secretary Michael Fallon needs to come clean with the British public on the secretive nature of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arms procurement policy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite assistant general secretary for manufacturing Tony Burke.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAs a first step, the government needs to ensure that a substantial amount of P-8A production work is undertaken in the UK, with all the support work to maintain these aircraft in the years ahead,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bApparently, the P-8A will not be using UK weapons, which is a disgrace.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK defence and aerospace sector is critical to maintaining thousands of skilled jobs in the UK and the economic prosperity of the communities where the factories are based.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis proud tradition of manufacturing is critical in any renaissance of overall UK manufacturing in the decade ahead. It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just be squandered by the easy option of buying \u00e2\u20ac\u0098off the shelf\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from America.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe decision to scrap the new generation Nimrod aircraft as part of the SDSR has been shown to be rash and short-sighted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMichael Fallon needs to make a statement to MPs before any contracts are signed and before Parliament rises for the summer recess on 21 July on what is happening specifically with the replacement for Nimrod and also regarding the Apache helicopters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 order,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke argued.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMore generally, the defence secretary has to outline a strategy that will maintain defence manufacturing in the UK, safeguarding British expertise and jobs, as well as the maintenance contracts that go hand-in-hand with such complex pieces of technology,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bChancellor George Osborne\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098march of the makers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 should not begin at Boeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing \u00c2\u00a0headquarters in Seattle, but with well-respected British defence firms with deep roots across the UK.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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@ShaunSearsNoble<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence secretary Michael Fallon has serious questions to answer about the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s secretive procurement policy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the latest controversy being the decision to buy nine maritime patrol aircraft from America.   The deal to purchase the nine Boeing Poseidon P-8A\u00c2\u00a0 patrol aircraft, estimated to be worth $3.2bn, without competitive tendering, is expected to be signed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[484,144],"wps_subtitle":"Defence secretary under fire over \u00e2\u20ac\u0098buy American\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policy ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8963,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961\/revisions\/8963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}