SIR – The announcement by Lotus that they will be moving Worcester Lightweight Structures to Norwich in 2021 is devastating news for the 42 employees concerned.
Worcester’s manufacturing sector represents just 5.5 per cent of city jobs and Lotus have been in the city since 2008, making the loss of these skilled, quality jobs all the more regrettable.
What then, are we to make of comments from our MP on this matter? On Thursday, July 9, Robin Walker was focused on the visit of Chancellor Rishi Sunak to Worcester Bosch.
How inconvenient then, that Lotus made their announcement of job losses on the same day. Undeterred, our MP rather confusingly juxtaposed Bosch and Lotus, commenting that “Worcester Bosch has a 1,400-strong workforce, and whilst I don’t like to see Lotus leaving to expand in Norwich, they only had 42 people in the Worcester factory”.
Later, to clarify, he “confirmed that the jobs are not being cut, they are being moved...”
People have commented to me how insensitive and completely lacking in empathy, they found such words.
The jobs in Lotus are being “cut” since few, if any, will be able to make the 200-mile move to Norwich, and employees will therefore be dismissed on grounds of redundancy.
It is to be hoped Mr Walker, when he spoke to Lotus, sought the reversal of the decision to close the factory, or at least its mitigation. He has offered his support to affected staff but this seems only to extend to contact with the Local Enterprise Partnership and the DWP.
Lotus employees, and Worcester residents, surely have the right to expect a greater appreciation of a highly sensitive subject and more meaningful representation from their MP.
PAUL WALTERS
Chairman, Worcester Constituency Labour Party
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