BAE confirms loss of 3,000 posts

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27 September 2011 Last updated at 11:07 GMT MPs Alan Johnson and David Davis react to BAE job losses

Defence giant BAE Systems has confirmed that it is cutting almost 3,000 jobs at sites across the country, mainly in its military aircraft division.

The firm ended days of speculation by giving details of a huge redundancy programme, saying it needed to maintain competitiveness.

Ian King, BAE chief executive, said in a statement that the company must "ensure its long-term future".

Union leaders said staff were "distraught and tearful" at the news.

BAE employs 40,000 people in the UK, and 100,000 worldwide, and the biggest job cuts will be at sites in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The Brough factory, in East Yorkshire, will lose 900 jobs from its 1,300-strong workforce.

At Samlesbury, Lancashire, 565 jobs will go from the 3,970-strong workforce.

At Warton, Lancashire, 843 posts will be lost among 6,537 staff.

Continue reading the main story Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News

Defence spending cuts have been blamed for the job cuts at BAE Systems.

Indeed, there was a dramatic slowdown in global defence spending growth last year to just 1.3%, with European nations actually cutting spending by 2.8%.

But overall, global military spending remains strong, having hit a record $1.63 trillion (£1tn) in 2010, about double the global spend seen in 2000.

So there are still big contracts out there and BAE is still gunning for them. For instance, India and Japan are both looking to sign major new fighter jet contracts and the Eurofighter Typhoon is seen as a strong contender.

The challenge for BAE is thus not necessarily just an overall reduction in spending, but rather the tough competition in the fighter jet market, where the Typhoon is up against some competent rivals.

Among other plants affected are operations in Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey, and Essex.

Most of the cuts will be made in BAE's military aircraft division, which is being affected by a slowdown in orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft.

'Pressure'

Mr King said: "Some of our major programmes have seen significant changes. The four partner nations in the Typhoon programme have agreed to slow production rates to help ease their budget pressures.

"Whilst this will help extend our production schedule and ensure the production line stays open until we receive anticipated export contracts, it does reduce the workload at a number of our sites."

He said changes in the US defence budget would also affect BAE's workload.

Unite, the biggest union at BAE, said it would meet management on Tuesday "and we will be doing everything we can to mitigate the impact of these cuts."

The union said in a statement: "The government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear."

'Ashamed'

Business Secretary Vince Cable said his department would do everything it could to ensure that valuable skills were not lost the the UK economy.

Continue reading the main story Judith Moritz North of England correspondent

Flying through crystal clear skies above Warton, BAE's Hawk jets have been airborne this morning, their sound ripping through the air every few minutes.

On the ground and behind closed doors, the staff who test them and build Eurofighter Typhoon jets were being told of their fate.

An announcement revealed that 822 jobs are going here and the talk locally is of the huge impact that will have on the local economy.

Mark Menzies, Conservative MP for the area, wants an enterprise zone to be created here to ease the way for future investment.

He points out that the workers affected are highly skilled and, in some cases, world class. For them, it won't be as simple as just going to the local job centre to find work.

"This news from BAE Systems will be a serious knock to the individuals and communities affected," he said.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool that the job losses were "yet another devastating body blow to our manufacturing base".

Senior Labour and Conservative MPs Alan Johnson and David Davis, who have BAE plants in their constituencies, criticised the company for the way it handled the news.

Mr Johnson said that after days of media speculation, it had been a case of "terrible news delivered in the worst possible way".

Mr Davis said BAE management "should be ashamed of itself".

Some workers said they were told of the cuts via email.

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Mexico's Pena Nieto confirms election bid

  Enrique Pena Nieto is eyeing the chance to govern the whole of Mexico There are still 10 months to go before Mexico's presidential election but if the opinion polls are correct, the man to beat is Enrique Pena Nieto.
Mr Pena Nieto, until last week the governor of the State of Mexico, put an end to months of speculation on Monday by announcing on Mexico's main television network, Televisa, that he wanted to be his party's candidate.
If he succeeds, it would mark a return to power after a gap of 12 years for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had governed Mexico for more than 70 years and became a byword for corruption and cronyism.
Continue reading the main story

Behind (Pena Nieto) are the old groups, the old factions within the PRI that are poised to govern the country as they always did”

End Quote Denise Dresser Political analyst Often described as Mexico's most handsome politician, the sleek and energetic Mr Pena Nieto, 45, has a wide lead in the opinion polls.
But his backstory is as much for the society pages as the political columns.
In January 2007 his wife suddenly died, leaving the governor a widowed father of three.
In November 2010, he married popular soap opera actress Angelica Rivera in what was described, perhaps inevitably, as a "fairytale wedding".
The fairtytale ending for Mr Pena Nieto's political career would be to clinch the PRI's nomination and win next July's election.
'No dinosaur'
Speaking to the BBC earlier this month at the governor's mansion in Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico, Mr Pena Nieto insisted his party had changed.
"The PRI has gone from being a party with a bad reputation... to one that has a creditable reputation today," Mr Pena Nieto said.
The couple's wedding got wide media coverage
He said the PRI had recovered because it had learned to compete against other political actors, unlike the long years of its rule when the next president would be hand-picked by the incumbent - a practice known as the "dedazo" or "pointing of the finger".
But Mr Pena Nieto's critics say the the PRI he represents is just more of the same old party that stalled democracy in Mexico during the 20th Century.
"The PRI has in Pena Nieto a handsome candidate, fresh-faced, who doesn't look like the vintage dinosaur of the PRI's past," says political analyst Denise Dresser.
But in many ways Mr Pena Nieto is just a front, she says.
"Behind him are the old groups, the old factions within the PRI that are poised to govern the country as they always did."
Mr Pena Nieto says his main credential for being elected is his successful governorship of Mexico State, the country's most populous state with 15 million people.
Personal and political criticism of him, Mr Pena Nieto says, comes from envious political opponents.
"They are terrified of the position the PRI has in the polls."
Continue reading the main story Manlio Fabio Beltrones (PRI): Lifelong party member and current Senate leader Josefina Vazquez Mota (PAN): Served as education minister 2006-2009; was party leader in lower houseErnesto Cordero (PAN): Finance minister 2009- 2010; close to President Calderon Santiago Creel (PAN): Interior minister under President Vicente Fox; failed to secure PAN nomination in 2005Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (PRD): Lost tight 2006 election to Mr Calderon; still calls himself Mexico's legitimate presidentMarcelo Ebrard (PRD): Mexico City Mayor since 2006; oversaw legalisation of abortions and gay marriage in the capitalHe was under scrutiny, he said, "because I'm the front-runner. No one cares who comes last".
The presidential election will take place as Mexico continues to confront the drug-related gang violence that has left some 40,000 dead since late 2006.
Increasing popular frustration and anger over the rising levels of violence have dented the popularity of current President Felipe Calderon and his National Action Party (PAN).
And that could be in the PRI's favour, says Ms Dresser.
"People seem to have a certain nostalgia for the past, to believe that a firm hand is needed to re-establish order in a country best by violence, crime and chaos."
Mr Pena Nieto recognises some achievements by the current government following its decision to tackle the drug cartels head-on but he says that, overall, the security strategy has not worked.
President Calderon's decision to deploy the army was "rushed and poorly planned", he said.
But he did not specify whether a President Pena Nieto would avoid using the army.
He said the PRI would have an "articulated strategy" that would focus on "the use of intelligence and not just force".
History lesson
Mr Pena's own state, while not the worst affected by violence, has seen a rise in killings and many of the drug barons arrested by the federal government have been captured in the territory.
The fight against the drug gangs has seen extra security forces being trained
The debate over security is likely to dominate the presidential campaign.
If - and it is still an if - Mr Pena Nieto is the PRI's choice, he will face a candidate from the PAN, possibly Josefina Vazquez Mota, who is bidding to be Mexico's first woman president, or Ernesto Cordero, until recently the finance minister.
For the left are two possible contenders: Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard and former presidential contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Mr Lopez Obrador has been scathing about Mr Pena Nieto.
"He's a meringue made by the Televisa chefs, he's got no substance," said Mr Lopez Obrador, referring to the media giant's widely perceived backing for Mr Pena Nieto.
But Mr Lopez Obrador perhaps offers a salutary lesson for the front-runner.
For months in the 2006 campaign Mr Lopez Obrador rode high in the polls but, after an aggressive campaign by his opponents, he narrowly lost to Mr Calderon.
And that is why many in Mexico believe the fairytale ending for Mr Pena Nieto cannot be taken for granted.

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