Airbus Portsmouth: Government warned losing city space jobs will be as devastating as scrapping shipbuilding

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GOVERNMENT ministers have been warned that if Portsmouth loses its place as a high-tech space hub the blow will be as big as the scrapping of shipbuilding in the city.

Nearly 1,000 jobs were lost in 2014 when BAE Systems brought to an end 500 years of shipbuilding in the home of the Royal Navy to focus its city operations on repairs and maintenance.

Ten years later, the spectre of heavy job losses in a key sector is looming again after aerospace giant Airbus announced it is cutting more than 2,000 jobs across Europe, with 477 posts going from Britain.

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As reported in The News yesterday, the restructure will fall most heavily on its space business, which currently employs just under 1,000 people at Anchorage Park in Hilsea.

Following news of the announcement, Portsmouth City Council leader Steve Pitt urged Airbus, which is headquartered in France, to think very carefully before making any decisions about its Portsmouth base, the second largest private sector employer in the city which pumps £400m into the local economy each year and supports 4,000 jobs across Hampshire.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been warned that losing space jobs in Portsmouth will be as devastating as when shipbuilding was scrapped in the city.  Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty ImagesBusiness and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been warned that losing space jobs in Portsmouth will be as devastating as when shipbuilding was scrapped in the city.  Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been warned that losing space jobs in Portsmouth will be as devastating as when shipbuilding was scrapped in the city. Credit: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images

Cllr Pitt has since expressed his concern in an ‘urgent letter’ to the Government’s Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Defence Secretary John Healey and Skills Minister Baroness Smith of Malvern.

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“The impact on Portsmouth of significant job losses at Airbus will be huge and we have had no confirmation that the site will remain open,” he said. “I am asking for your urgent intervention to ensure that Airbus's vital role in the economic ecosystem of Portsmouth, Hampshire and the UK is safeguarded and to work to minimise any job losses.

“The implications to the city of losing the Airbus operation would be on a scale akin to the loss of shipbuilding here under the previous government and that cannot be allowed to happen.”

An urgent letter from Portsmouth council leader Steve Pitt has been sent to Defence Secrtary John Healey warning about the impact of the loss of space jobs in the cityAn urgent letter from Portsmouth council leader Steve Pitt has been sent to Defence Secrtary John Healey warning about the impact of the loss of space jobs in the city
An urgent letter from Portsmouth council leader Steve Pitt has been sent to Defence Secrtary John Healey warning about the impact of the loss of space jobs in the city | House of Commons/UK Parliament

In his letter, Cllr Pitt details how the Anchorage Park base - one of two Airbus sites in the UK - is a hub for high-tech space activities, leading on satellite manufacturing and innovation, the development of high-tech military equipment and civil communications. It is key to the UK's position as a global leader in satellite technology, the leader informs ministers.

Cllr Pitt adds Airbus also delivers significant careers support for city schools, ‘focusing on our most vulnerable and deprived communities’.

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Airbus was founded more than 50 years ago through a partnership between Britain, Germany, France and Spain. It revealed earlier this year that it would need to make cuts to enhance its competitiveness in the face of continued business challenges and to create ‘a more effective and efficient organisational structure’.

Unions have been told there will be no compulsory redundancies, with cuts carried out by mid-2026.

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