I wonder about these decisions

I am confused by some of the decisions made by the people we vote into office to run our economy and protect British interests.

Five years ago David Cameron signed a deal with Japanese train builder Hitachi to build trains in the UK and pumped hundreds of millions of taxpayers pounds into a deal to bring Hitachi to County Durham.

Yet last month the British government awarded a multibillion pound contract to German train builder Siemens to supply rolling stock to the new London rail system, whereby not one single job would be created in the UK, in fact Hitachi are having to lay workers off.

I fully understand that the government has to abide by EU procurement directives but this puts British firms at a disadvantage, as many are much smaller than the German

giants who can offer short-term better value for money, at least that is what our politicians would have us believe.

But what about the longterm security of our own workers, and the knock-on effect of people having to claim benefits after losing their jobs?

Can anyone actually tell me how many trains we have exported to Germany (ever) – probably none.

Not too long ago our new British passport printing was awarded to a Dutch company who intend to sub contract the work to a Middle East firm, just how secure will that be?

I do have to wonder about the intellect of the politicians and civil servants who run this country on our behalf and what their motives really are. Can someone please enlighten me.

ALAN PIPER