Why won't Labour buy British?

10.57.00am GMT Mon 4th Jan 2010

Yeovil's Augusta Westland have a licence to build the Chinook, and have already built 24 for Italy, but Labour are buying American

That's the question being raised, after the Labour Government announced it will be buying 22 new Chinook Helicopters from American firm Boeing and not from Yeovil based Augusta-Westland, who have a licence to produce the Chinook for the UK and European markets.

Lib Dem MP, David Laws, and Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth exchanged letters in December on the issue of future helicopter orders, following a Government Statement on Defence strategy, made on 15 December.

In the Defence's Secretary's letter to David Laws, Bob Ainsworth confirms the decision to buy 22 new Chinook helicopters, and to cancel the Future Medium Helicopter plans.

The future Medium Helicopter project was expected to see the RAF's aging fleet of Puma Helicopters and the Royal Marines' Seaking Commando Helicopters replaced with brand new Augusta Westland Merlins, again built in Yeovil.

But the Defence Secretary claims that his new strategy "is likely to deliver a significant level of work to Agusta Westland's Yeovil site", and he reveals publicly for the first time that his department is considering "the possibility that we might increase our order for Wildcat [Future Lynx]" (from the current total of 62 aircraft).

The Defence Secretary also says that Westland's Yeovil operations will play "a key role in the modernisation and ship-optimisation of the Merlin Mk3/3a fleet and potentially in supporting the delivery of an Airborne Search and Control capability from a Merlin platform on the retirement of the Sea King Mk 7 fleet." This extra work could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

In his letter to the Defence Secretary, David Laws welcomes the possible new work for Westland but expresses concerns about the cancellation of the Future Medium Helicopter and the present plans to order the 22 Chinooks direct from the USA, rather than from Agusta Westland under its licensing agreement with Boeing.

David Laws is requesting an early meeting with the Defence Secretary to discuss the possibility of Agusta Westland taking on the construction of the Chinooks.

David Laws MP said:

"I welcome the Defence's Secretary's confirmation of the additional orders which may be placed with Westland - and not least his announcement that there may be an order of additional "Wildcat" helicopters, as well as a major contract to upgrade the Merlin helicopters. This would be good news for Yeovil and for the armed forces.

"However, I am particularly concerned that in spite of the Defence Industrial Partnership with Westland, the Ministry of Defence seems intent on building the Chinooks in the United States, rather than through Agusta Westland.

"I am confident that Agusta Westland could build the Chinooks on time and on budget, and this would help to retain our critical engineering capabilities.

"I have today written to the Defence Secretary, setting out my concerns, and asking for an early meeting to discuss the possibility of Agusta Westland taking on the prime responsibility for delivering the extra Chinooks.

"I am also concerned that the Ministry of Defence is pressing ahead with the upgrading of the very old Puma helicopters - these aircraft should be replaced with an additional purchase of Merlins from Westland, rather than spending good money in patching up an out of date piece of equipment."