Workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Nimrod production halt

BAE Systems workers from the North West were set to lobby MPs on Wednesday over the UK-wide loss of 1,005 jobs.

Redundancies were announced in March after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) decided to stop production of the Nimrod aircraft.

Workers from Chadderton and Woodford, in Greater Manchester, have organised the protest along with colleagues from other sites, including Warton, in Lancashire.

About 40 people were travelling to Westminster to ask MPs and trade union officials to help save their jobs.

The MoD has halted production of the plane while a reassessment of the final cost of the project is carried out.

Skill shortage

Unions believe this will result in a two-year gap between the design and production of the plane.

BAE has announced 492 job losses at Woodford, near Stockport, 154 at Chadderton and 164 at Warton.

The workers will tell MPs the job losses will mean workers will leave BAE, taking their skills elsewhere, which will result in a shortage when the production of the Nimrod resumes.

They will say this represents poor value for money for the government.