17th June 2010
Last Friday I visited one of the largest employers in Yeovil Constituency – Honeywell Aerospace, which is based on the “Westland” factory site in the middle of Yeovil.
AgustaWestland is such a huge local employer that when people think “Aerospace – Yeovil” they invariably think only of Westland. But Honeywell, Aerosystems, GKN Structures and other big companies also employ large numbers of people in our area, and have a long record of industrial success. Honeywell alone employs some 600 people – which makes it one of the top ten employers in our area.
Honeywell’s history goes right back to 1933, when it was an integral part of the Westland site. The Houston Expedition’s first flight over Mount Everest with two Westland aircraft required the aircrews to be supplied with oxygen and heating – precursors of the systems that would eventually be produced by Normalair/Honeywell.
In 1967 minority ownership was acquired by the Garrett Corporation, and in 1998 the company was acquired by Allied Signals. “Honeywell NGL” finally became Honeywell Aerospace in 2003.
As I was shown around the factory, I saw some of the very high technology equipment which is produced in Yeovil, along with some of the assets acquired over the past decades. For example, in the 1960s, Europe’s largest test chamber was built on site for testing Concorde’s pressurisation system, and some of this early equipment for Concorde testing is still used today.
Work completed by the company over the last 15 years includes contributions to a whole range of aircraft from all nations – the F-22, the Nimrod MRA Mk4, the Hawk jet, the Eurofighter, the Joint Strike Fighter, the Dassault F7X, the EH101, and many more. Honeywell particularly specialises in environmental control systems, life support systems, electronic controllers and hydraulic systems.
The economic environment has obviously been very tough for many companies over the last couple of years, with the global recession combined with attempts by all Governments to rein back on their defence expenditure. I will do all I can to support companies such as Honeywell, AgustaWestland, GKN and Aerosystems for the future, but we also need to be realistic about the constraints facing Governments in an era of huge budget deficits.
At present, the UK Government is commencing a Defence Review, and this will have to take some tough decisions over the next few years to make sure that our equipment programme is affordable. While making the case as strongly as possible for our local products, we also need to identify the areas where the Government is going to need new equipment, as well as the opportunities in the export markets. The next 10 years will be very tough for the whole of the defence sector, and we need to ensure that our firms are amongst those which thrive and succeed.
On Friday afternoon I held a busy Advice Centre in Yeovil, and on Saturday morning I held another Advice Centre in Chard. I have to say that it was good to be able to focus my attention on helping sort out other people’s problems, rather than dealing with my own. The casework which MPs get involved in is some of the most worthwhile work we do, where you know that you can make a real difference to the quality of people’s lives.
This week I am back up in Parliament, and there is a lot going on. The last Government simply ran out of steam, so there is a nice contrast in seeing a new Government with lots of ideas and energy, getting on with things. It is frustrating to be on the sidelines at this time, but that is how things have worked out.
I would like to say again how enormously grateful I am for the thousands of generous messages of support over the last few weeks. I am taking the time to read every single message personally, and I will try to reply to everyone who has written – but this will take a little time.
This Friday I will be holding another Advice Centre in Yeovil, and on Saturday I have Advice Centres in Ilminster and Crewkerne.
David.