Dear Sir,
Now is the time for the Labour government to do as they promised re Hitachi train manufacturers in Newton Aycliffe and show they are not a novice party and, for once, will not go back on their word and instil some confidence back in the North East or will they let us down again?
I see in the media that Virgin Trains are in the market to place an order for £500 million to break Eurostar’s monopoly on the Channel Tunnel passenger services. They are looking at train models from four different companies with two suppliers short listed and our own local firm, Hitachi, are one of them.
The company are expected to finalise the selection soon as the fleet is anticipated to be operational by 2029, so they can compete with other operators. Surely this is the opportunity for Labour’s leader, Kier Starmer, Kim McGinnis, North East Mayor, and our local MP Alan Strickland, to get the pen out and prove their words, to do everything required to help get Hitachi this contract, which hopefully will fill the gap and keep the jobs and factory in production for the foreseeable future.
I am sure our local press, councils and MPs will back this all the way. Let’s see the headlines ‘Labour Helps Win Contract For Hitachi’.
John Armstrong, Newton Aycliffe.