Two blows for delayed Airbus jet
A military aircraft part built in Bristol was dealt a double blow after the Shadow Chancellor said he would review the contract if the Tories take power and the Liberal Democrats pledged they would scrap it outright.
The troubled A400M would give the British forces a transporter that could carry tanks but it is severely behind schedule and has been dogged by problems.
George Osborne has warned defence projects will not be safe from public spending cuts if the Conservatives sweep to power next year.
The party will review "break clauses" in contracts for the transporter when looking for ways to curb the national debt.
He said: "I simply do not know what the break clauses are in the Eurofighter programme or the A400M or the aircraft carriers. We do have those limitations."
Mr Osborne's comments came as the Liberal Democrats unveiled their proposals for tackling the fiscal crisis.
They include scrapping the £22billion A400M, along with a number of other defence projects including the controversial Trident project.
Airbus UK has invested more than £200 million over five years in the project that has employed 900 workers at Filton – 400 in manufacturing and 500 on the programme – and 8,000 around the UK.
Although the assembly line is at the Spanish manufacturing facility of EADS, the overall design and management of the wings was the responsibility of the Bristol plant.
Party leader Nick Clegg told the Evening Post he believed the majority of people in Bristol would understand if the project was scrapped, despite hundreds of workers facing the prospect of losing their jobs.
He said: "In the case of the A400M it's not easy, for people working on the project, to accept its future needs to be called into question, but we can't carry on committing billions of pounds of taxpayers' money when there are either cheaper alternatives or where the defence systems are no longer pressing.
"I think most people in Bristol would accept that we have got to get our priorities right at a time when we have service men and women dying in Afghanistan for lack of proper equipment yet we are spending billions on defence contracts which might no longer make sense."
The government has already warned EADS it is 'concerned' about delays and is considering a new order for rival Boeing's C-17.
Comments
by Mike Byfield, Filton
Friday, September 25 2009, 9:48AM
“The comments by both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats will make very interesting reading for the Unite members employed on the A400M project at Airbus in Filton. I'm sure that, given ithe views expressed by both of these parties, there will already be decisions made among the workforce over which way to vote in any coming elections to best preserve their future employment. If you examine Mr Osbornes comments more closely it becomes clear that he is set on scrapping the project if his party were to be elected, to save money, while admitting that he doesn't know how much that decision would cost. How can any decision be made without weighing up all the costs that would arise, including the social costs to the people employed on the project?
Nick Clegg's position is even more bewildering. He too, seems intent on scrapping the project, citing that "we have service men and women dying in Afghanistan for lack of proper equipment", and then saying that " there are cheaper alternatives". Mr Clegg should realise that the long term prospects for service men & women will be greatly enhanced by supporting this project, as it is simply the best solution to the current and future needs of our armed forces. These men and women do not deserve "cheaper alternatives", they desreve the best, and that is what this aircraft will offer. Equally, he should be careful in speaking for the people of Bristol in saying that, "I think most people in Bristol would accept that we have got to get our priorities right ", if these priorities include the provision of "cheaper altrnatives" and the loss of employment that that would create in the area, and across the supply chain nationwide as well.
This aircraft will be the first to use carbon fibre technology on such a large scale, and this technology is vital to the future of the aerospace industry in the UK.
Mike Byfield
Unite Convenor
Airbus, Filton”