“THE government’s inertia on this issue is an act of self-harm.”

Those were the words of Unite union chief Sharon Graham amid ongoing uncertain over future military supply contracts – which could threaten thousands of jobs in Yeovil.

Workers at the Leonardo factory in the Somerset town are waiting on news of contracts from the long-promised Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

Announcing the new plan a year ago, the Government said details of contracts would be published last summer, alongside the Strategic Defence Review.

However, that was pushed back until the end of 2025, and now, could be facing further delays.

Last week, when quizzed by MP Adam Dance (Lib Dem, Yeovil) over delays to the decision, Minister for Defence Procurement Luke Pollard (Lab, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport) said an announcement would be coming “shortly”, and that Leonardo remained “an important strategic partner for the Ministry of Defence (MoD)”.

However Unite, which represents thousands of defence works in the UK, has hit out at the Government over the delays and said it was a matter of jobs and national security.

“The government’s constant dithering is not only putting thousands of jobs at risk but also endangering the specialist skills that the UK needs to make fighter jets, military helicopters, drones and satellites in the future,” a spokesperson said.

Calling the delays “acts of self-harm”, Unite said the Government needed to “urgently publish the DIP” and to ensure that it includes:

• The replacement of old RAF fighter jets with new Typhoons, fitted with Rolls Royce engines, equipped with British-built weapons from MBDA and assembled at BAE’s sites in Lancashire.
• The awarding of the new medium lift helicopter contract to Leonardo, to be manufactured at their plant in Yeovil.
• Provisions for the MoDs Military Satellite Communications System (Skynet) to continue being built in Portsmouth and Stevenage, as it has for the last 20 years.

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Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “The government’s inertia on this issue is an act of self-harm. With employers planning in the dark and threatening job losses as a result, the government needs to stop the dither and delay.

“Failing to back British defence manufacturing would be a devastating own goal, destroying jobs and skills.

“When the announcement was made for higher defence spending, it came with guarantees around jobs, skills and innovation. We now need to move beyond the warm words and deliver.”

Meanwhile, senior Unite defence reps at Leonardo and other key defence sites have written directly to prime minister Keir Starmer calling for him to act swiftly.

They wrote of how further delays would be “too late for Leonardo Helicopters at Yeovil”.

“Leonardo Yeovil is the last remaining facility in the United Kingdon capable of designing, manufacturing and sustaining military rotary-wing aircraft,” they went on.

“The economic value of this site extends well beyond the immediate workforce. It supports a highly-skilled, unionised workforce and a national supply chain that delivers substantial returns to the Exchequer.

“These are precisely the types of high-value industrial jobs that a government committed to growth should be seeking to protect and expand.”

They warned the delays were risking allowing the UK defence industry to “wither”.

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