More productive and ethical opportunities

It is not accurate to state that the skilled engineering workers at BAE plants in Lancashire and Yorkshire cannot be redeployed elsewhere

It is sad to see skilled workers lose their jobs (Editor's Comment, October 2011) but that is no excuse for swallowing the specious arguments put forward by arms companies that they are vital to the nation's economic wellbeing.

The fact is that the UK arms industry has been in decline for years, as it becomes more global in reach and jobs move overseas (as with the BAE deal of August 2010 to manufacture Hawk jets in India).

In 1989 around 300,000 were employed directly in arms manufacture, for procurement and exports, today the number is only 100,000 -around 0.7% of the workforce. Only 1.2% of UK exports are generated by the arms industry.

It is not accurate to state that the skilled engineering workers at BAE plants in Lancashire and Yorkshire cannot be redeployed elsewhere. There is a shortage of engineers in the UK. The arms industry is well aware of this. In September 2010 the President of General Dynamics UK told the Commons Defence Committee: "The skills that might be divested of a reducing defence industry do not just sit there waiting to come back. They will be mopped up by other industries that need such skills."

There are other, more ethical industries that can provide more jobs. The most promising is the renewables sector. Jane's Online, which provides information to the arms industry, said: "The defence market worldwide is worth a trillion dollars annually. The energy and environmental market is worth at least eight times this amount. The former is set to contract as governments address the economic realities of the coming decade; the latter is set to expand exponentially, especially in the renewables arena."

This is especially relevant to the UK with its abundant wind and wave energies waiting to be harnessed, It is widely acknowledged that best hope for the Hull area is a renewables development likely to provide up to 10,000 quality jobs, which will more than replace the nearly 900 jobs lost at Brough.

Any White Paper on industrial strategy should listen to all voices in the manufacturing sector, rather than just the influential arms lobby. And the £700 million currently subsidising arms exports could be used for retraining and support for the arms workers to move to other, more productive and ethical industries.

Kaye Stearman, London

Next letter: The power strategy