Politics
Burnham urged to award £2.4bn military satellite contract to Airbus over US rival
Unite union leader says giving Skynet 6 WSS contract to Lockheed Martin would be a ‘massive mistake’ Business live – latest updates One of the Labour party’s biggest union backers has called for Andy Burnham to award a £2.4bn military satellite contract to the European manufacturer Airbus rather than a US rival, Lockheed Martin, amid concerns that as many as 600 jobs may be at risk.
- Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said it would be a “massive mistake” to go for a US company over Airbus, which is headquartered in France but designs and builds satellites in Stevenage in Hertfordshire and Portsmouth in Hampshire.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said it would be a “massive mistake” to go for a US company over Airbus, which is headquartered in France but designs and builds satellites in Stevenage in Hertfordshire and Portsmouth in Hampshire. Mok/PA View image in fullscreen Work on a satellite at the Airbus factory in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. The bid battle is likely to be seen as an early test of how Burnham’s pledge to use “public procurement to back British industry” will work. It will also be one of the first major spending decisions for the new defence secretary, Wes Streeting, as the UK tries to navigate the tricky relationship with the nationalistic US administration under Donald Trump, who wants other countries to buy more American kit.
Source: Guardian UK News