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Hundreds of jobs at risk over contract doubts

Mar 14 2010 Sunday Sun

The source said: “It’s certainly the case that the whole site is now at risk.

“The employees will be well aware that these are the only two contracts in town but, rest assured, I’m sure they will be doing all they can to save the jobs.

“Technically BAE was way ahead of the competition. General Dynamics haven’t even built a prototype but BAE has had one for a long time. The company was apparently selected but that decision was overturned, possibly on cost grounds.

“As well as the Warrior delay, the overall picture is not good.”

Last night, Tyne Bridge MP David Clelland voiced his concerns.

He said: “Myself and Nick Brown have been working very hard for some time on this contract but this is a competitive tender and we can’t tell the Government where to put the work.

“BAE is an international company. It is not totally reliant on Government orders.”

A BAE spokesman said: “We believe we put in a very competitive, robust bid with £50m of investment and five years of risk reduction so we would be very disappointed if this were true.”

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