No sign of political pressure abating

摘要

The government has been under growing pressure since Bombardier announced on July 5 that it was starting statutory consultation on redundancies at Derby following the loss of the Thameslink contract to Siemens (RB1393 p1). In addition to 983 staff on short-term contracts, 446 permanent staff would be affected. MPs held a Westminster Hall debate on the train-building industry on July 12, during which members representing constituencies across the Midlands touched on a wide variety of issues raised by the redundancy announcement. In particular, several MPs noted that the Thameslink deal was still at the preferred bidder stage and a contract had yet to be signed, with Bombardier retained by DfT as reserve bidder.