BLACKPOOL MP HAILS ‘ENCOURAGING JOB PROSPECTS’ ON BAE VISIT 

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden has said that business and job prospects across the Fylde at BAE “look encouraging” after meeting managers, employees and union representatives on a visit to BAE’s Warton site.  

Mr Marsden toured the Aerospace assembly areas for Eurofighter/Typhoon and the Hawk jet trainer – talking to staff working on the latest orders and servicing for the Hawk for India programme. “The planes here are getting the latest avionics packages as well as BAE offering the substantial support and training elements that are clearly a key part of their strategy for expansion”,

Mr Marsden said afterwards.

“I talked with management about their target strategies in this area for the Middle East, South Africa and South Asia. BAE’s optimism about adding a thousand extra staff to work on Typhoon and other projects at Warton and Salmesbury must mean encouraging job prospects for more of my constituents getting jobs with BAE systems locally. This positive outlook was reciprocated in my talks with union representatives, though arrangements over technology transfer with the US and continued close support from the Ministry of Defence are obviously crucial to BAE’s continuing prospects in West Lancashire”.  

Mr Marsden, who chairs the all-party skills group of MPs at Westminster also talked to both sides at BAE about expanding retraining and upskilling for older workers at Warton and Salmesbury. “We know that a strategy to improve older worker’s skills - not just technical but management and servicing – will be critical for local and national prosperity in the next 10-15 years. BAE should be a key player, along with Lancaster University and University of Central Lancashire, in giving existing and new staff those opportunities”.