MP asks for support over Tata jobs fears

ACT now... Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner tells government to intervene over another Tata sell-off.

FAILSWORTH MP Angela Rayner has asked the government to intervene over another Tata sell-off which has put 800 jobs, including some in Manchester, at risk.

Mrs Rayner, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne – which includes Failsworth – has asked Business Secretary Sajid Javid MP to raise with Tata the planned outsourcing of up to 800 jobs from British Airways, including those at the company’s contact centre in Wilmslow Road, Didsbury.

BA is set to transfer the jobs to India, after Tata Consultancy Services won the IT contract.

The decision by BA to outsource IT jobs to India has raised fears that hundreds of staff – including those who helped solve a major security crash last summer – could now be laid off.

In the House of Commons this week Mrs Rayner asked Mr Javid: “In his discussions with Tata, might he also have time to raise their involvement in the out-sourcing of up to 800 jobs from British Airways, including their centre in South Manchester? As the ‘Daily Telegraph’ revealed last week, this is another example where their actions threaten our national security along with our jobs, so will the government step in to protect both?”

Mrs Rayner said: “Tata is costing British jobs in the steel industry and in Manchester. Some of these jobs are vital to our national security. Loyal BA technicians restarted vital IT systems after eBorders twice crashed last summer. Without them, our country’s borders could have been left open to terrorists and criminals.

“Now those same loyal staff are being rewarded with their jobs being sold off to India, simply in order to bump up BA’s profits. It’s disgusting.

“The government must step in to save these British jobs, both at British Steel and in Manchester, especially when our own national security is at risk as a direct result.

“It would be wrong to endanger our country’s defences by leaving it in the hands of people on the other side of the world.”