THE DAY MPS JOINED OUR CAMPAIGN TO SAVE GKN
POLITICIANS from all parties called on ministers to block the takeover of GKN yesterday.
MPs lined up alongside the Daily Mail’s campaign to save GKN and highlighted the defence giant’s critical importance to UK industry during a debate in Westminster Hall organised by Labour’s Adrian Bailey.
Labour MP Jack Dromey, who represents Birmingham Erdington, said: ‘In the aftermath of tragedies like Carillion and British Steel, the last thing we need in an iconic British engineering company is such a problem on pensions befalling workers of GKN.
‘If there is a will there is a way, and I very much hope that the Government will respond to the substantial all-party concern.’
He said the workers at the GKN ‘were the salt of the earth’, adding: ‘There is a pride in their hearts in terms of who they are and what they do.
‘The last thing we want to see is for GKN – the great British engineering company – to become history.’
Rachel Maclean, the Tory MP for Redditch, where GKN is based, added: ‘GKN has a focus on a long-term business model, and this is a welcome contrast to the short-termism that we have seen by Melrose. They are not seen as sustainable long-term investors in the best interests of the company.’
Richard Burden, the Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield, said: ‘The aerospace industry has warned that what happens to GKN is of critical importance to the sector.
‘Melrose’s track record of taking over and selling companies does not give me confidence that their takeover bid would be in the interests of either GKN’s long-term future or indeed the longterm future of British industry.
‘It’s not what ministers say on this takeover bid that’s important – it’s what they are going to do.’
Mhairi Black, the SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire, told the debate: ‘The Government has the power, the reason and the support to act – the question is, does it have the will?’