Labour man to meet Defence Secretary over AgustaWestland helicopters (From Yeovil Express)

Labour man to meet Defence Secretary over AgustaWestland helicopters

6:00pm Friday 13th November 2009

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LABOUR candidate, Lee Skevington, will be fighting the cause of AgustaWestland next week when he meets with the Defence Secretary.

Mr Skevington, who will be standing as Labour's candidate at the next General Election in Yeovil, will be travelling to London to meet Bob Ainsworth MP to discuss future MoD orders with the helicopter company.

His meeting comes after the Prime Minister suggested earlier this week there is a possibility of the MoD buying Chinnocks from US Boeing instead of AgustaWestland's Merlin helicopter.

Mr Skevington has criticised any move by the Government to buy from Boeing and said that if the Gordon Brown's comments were accurate then it would be “problematic” for both AgustaWestland and troops currently serving in Afghanistan.

He said: “We know it takes four years to build a Chinook while it takes three years to build a Merlin in Yeovil.

"If we want helicopters out on the frontline sooner rather than later the Government will buy from AgustaWestland.”

Mr Skevington told the Yeovil Express that it was his priority to firstly aim to get "clarification" on whether there were plans to take any contract away from AgustaWestland and to award it to US Boeing.

"I then want the Defence Secretary to reiterate his commitment to purchasing helicopters for use in Afghanistan from Yeovil," he said.

"I have been very consistent in arguing that we must be responsible for our own defence needs.”

Mr Skevington recently met with Jim Knight, Minister for Employment, to discuss the importance of these contracts to local jobs.

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