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Press Release

Government loaded the dice against Britain's last train maker

16 December 2011

Unite, Britain's biggest union, has called on the government to halt the 'murky' Thameslink procurement process following the transport select committee's damning recommendations.

Unite welcomes the committee's recommendation for the National Audit Office to conduct a review of the Thameslink procurement process, which led to Britain's last train maker, Bombardier losing out to a consortium led by Siemens.

Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said:

"It is an outrage that the British government loaded the dice against British jobs. It is now time to lift the lid on the murky dealings which stopped this country's last train maker from building trains for our railways.

"The select committee's report is a damning indictment of the government. The Thameslink contract has been shrouded in a veil of secrecy. It will be a national scandal if the Transport Secretary refuses to put the Thameslink contract on hold to allow a full inquiry.

"We have consistently argued that the government failed to think about the social and economic consequences of its decision to put tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs on the scrapheap. It appears a decision was also based on the preffered bidder's ability to raise cash rather than build trains.

We now hope that the Government will do the right thing and act on the Select Committee's recommendations and also learn lessons for the future."



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Unite

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