US satellite deal would cause ‘irreversible damage’, warns Ben Wallace

What happened: Sir Ben Wallace warned that a £2bn deal to buy US satellites for the military would cause "irreversible" damage to Britain's space industry, and urged Andy Burnham to block the MoD from awarding the Skynet 6A contract to Lockheed Martin. Key numbers: £2bn deal value; 3,000 Airbus UK jobs said to be at risk; Lockheed proposes a £85m factory in Newcastle creating Why it matters: The decision is under review by Downing Street and has drawn lobbying from Unite, which wants the work to go to Airbus. The content frames the choice as a test of the government's "buy British" pledge. Market: -0.7% today ($638.63), +30.0% YTD, 0.1x vol — as of 15:18 UTC

Sir Ben Wallace warned that a £2bn deal to buy US satellites for the military would cause "irreversible" damage to Britain's space industry, and urged Andy Burnham to block the MoD from awarding the Skynet 6A contract to Lockheed Martin.

The decision is under review by Downing Street and has drawn lobbying from Unite, which wants the work to go to Airbus. The content frames the choice as a test of the government's "buy British" pledge. Market: -0.7% today ($638.63), +30.0% YTD, 0.1x vol — as of 15:18 UTC