Is it too late for Bombardier to come to the rescue?

If ever a fiasco epitomised the incompetence of its makers, it is surely the Tory-led Government’s continued mishandling of the Thameslink rail contract.

It is some two years since David Cameron’s Government disgracefully overlooked Derby trainmaker Bombardier and handed the £1.4bn deal to German firm Siemens instead. The intervening period has been littered with more twists than a bag of pretzels.  Now the Government’s own watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), has intensified the pressure on the Government.

The NAO’s report was published earlier this week and suggests the Government’s dithering and incompetence has jeopardized the 2018 deadline for the delivery of the Thameslink programme.

I have expressed my concerns to a succession of transport ministers over the validity of the Government’s decision, but my representations have been ignored. They also ignored the 50,000-name petition, just like they ignored the needs of the many thousands of workers, at Bombardier and in the supply chain. Furthermore, the incredulity from industry experts who knew that the correct process had not been followed in overlooking Bombardier’s bid, were arrogantly dismissed.

Instead they pressed on with their plans, a response tactic that has become all too familiar from a Government which has proven itself either too arrogant to listen or too mindless to understand.

There is an urge to shout “we told you so”, but far from celebrating the Government’s incompetence, my overwhelming sentiment is anger and frustration that the ministers just don’t seem to get it. So now, inevitably, the question is bound to come up again.  Is it too late for Bombardier to come to the rescue?  Could the Government finally show a degree of rectitude and at least revisit its options?

I honestly don’t know how viable that is because the Government seems to have shrouded its negotiations with Siemens in secrecy since it handed them the contract on a plate.  What I do know with certainty is that the matter needs resolving and quickly.  The Thameslink scheme is vital to improving transport links in London and the South East of England.  Its very existence is the legacy of a Labour Government which had the vision and the nous that the current incumbents of ministerial office sadly lack.

The scheme’s future now hangs in the balance courtesy of a one-trick pony Government who don’t seem able to do anything well, except for their speciality – reckless cutbacks.

I dearly hope that the Thameslink scheme does not become the latest victim of a Government which seems adept at creating chaos but is incapable of building for the future.

Maybe there will be some incredible twist of fate and unlikely sequence of events enabling Bombardier’s bid for the Thameslink rolling stock contract to rise from the ashes.  I will certainly continue to do what I can to make that happen.

Chris Williamson is the Labour MP for Derby North