Bombardier, Britain’s last train manufacturer, unveiled 1,400 job cuts this week – around half the workforce. The Canadian-owned group blamed its recent failure to secure a £3bn government contract to build 1,200 carriages for the upgrade of the Thameslink Bedford-Brighton rail route. The work went to Germany’s Siemens instead.
What the commentators said
So much for the government being pro-manufacturing, said The Guardian. Given an opportunity “to put taxpayers’ money where its mouth is”, it failed to do so. The government defended itself by saying that the only criterion allowed under European Union tendering rules is value for money, said Jonathan Guthrie in the FT. Yet France and Germany “successfully reconcile the same rules with placing the bulk of their train orders domestically”.
Why the fuss? wondered David Crow in City AM “Who would you buy…new trains from? Germany, a country synonymous with precision engineering” and replete with prestigious industrial brands? Or Britain, once “home of the Mini Metro and Austin Allegro”? It’s “depressing” that we can’t rival Germany and Japan in manufacturing. But the answer isn’t to “erect barriers” to shield uncompetitive industries and “accept second-best”. Instead, we must up our own game, said The Independent. That means measures such as encouraging investment in better plant and machinery, and funding apprenticeships. This will enable the sector to “compete without needing a helping hand”.