Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer vows to do all he can to 'keep jobs' at Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe

Tom Barton was at Hitachi for the visit of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to do all he can to protect jobs at the Hitachi rail manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe.

Hitachi, which employs hundreds of people at its North East site, has warned it is struggling to fill its order book.

The site faces a gap in orders with work on existing contracts expected to decline by October, leaving the Japanese manufacturer "reviewing all options" for the future.

Around 750 people are currently employed at the factory.

On Thursday (25 April), as the Labour Party announced plans to renationalise the railways if the party were to win the next election, the Labour Leader called on the Government to step in and protect jobs.

Sir Keir said: "I will sit down with anyone, including government, to make sure all options are exercised to keep the jobs here that are so desperately needed.

"It's a huge concern, my frustration is it is a known concern, this hasn't suddenly happened, it is something which the Government has known about for a long time and it has failed to act quickly enough.

"It is not too late and obviously from opposition, there is less than we can do than if we were in power but even from opposition we will put maximum pressure on the government to take the appropriate action here.

"Very happy to sit down with the government or anybody else to preserve the jobs here, this factory, this Hitachi set up is a complete success.

"It has already moved on since I was last here. Highly skilled jobs, really motivated workforce, other jobs reliant on it, we cannot simply let that go and therefore we will put maximum pressure on to ensure it doesn't."

Hitachi says it is committed to finding a way forward for the County Durham site despite the uncertainty.

On a visit to the factory on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said his focus is on protecting jobs, not scoring political points.

The Labour leader added: "This is above politics. I don't think any of the people who work here are interested in labour or Tories or scoring points here. It has to be dealt with now. The government can't kick this into the long grass and say 'We'll put it the other side of the election.

"They've got to act now. If it is necessary then we will sit down with them but this is above party politics to the people whose jobs depend on it, their families, all the other jobs that feed into this and of course to the area, Hitachi is something to be very proud of and we can't let it go."

Meanwhile Transport Secretary Mark Harper, on a visit to Teesside to announce Government plans to ensure 10% of all jet fuel in flights taking off from the UK comes from sustainable sources by 2030, responded to calls from the opposition for Government action to help Hitachi.

Mark Harper said: "We're doing a lot to help Hitachi. We're very clear about the importance of the plant and the skilled workers. I met representatives of the workforce just last week in a meeting organised by their excellent local member of parliament Paul Howell, very constructive conversations.

"I've urged the company to come to the government with a range of things that might solve their gap between now and when they start manufacturing trains for HS2. We'll work flexibly with them as we have elsewhere in the country.

"The particular thing they keep talking about simply isn't going to work and anybody who pretends there is a simple solution that can be dealt with by the stroke of the pen is not being honest with the people that work there.

"I don't think that is the right way to behave so I've been very straightforward with them, we will look at what options there are in a flexible way.

"There is a big programme of procurement coming for trains, there's going to be about £3.6billion pounds worth of train procurement in the next few years, there is going to be about new procurement in the marketplace from South Eastern trains in the next few weeks.

"There is a lot of work for Hitachi to bid for and we're committed to working with the company so that it is in a position to do so."

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