NORTH Wales MPs have described their ongoing battle to protect Airbus jobs.

Last week it was announced that more than 1,400 jobs are are risk at the aircraft manufacturer's Broughton plant.

Conservative MPs from across North Wales have been working with officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Minister for Business and Airbus management directly to do everything possible to mitigate the impact of COVID on their business.

The aviation and aerospace sector in the UK is worth £52bn (3.4 per cent of UK GDP) and is responsible for 960,000 jobs.

The UK Government has already provided around £6bn in sector-specific support and is in constant dialogue with Airbus directly on a range of issues to better position them back into growth.

The company itself has benefitted significantly from the Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility.

The UK Government has also taken steps to make sure that it can continue its investment in R&D, including the “Wing of Tomorrow” programme which is crucial to securing future wing work at Broughton and in the wider supply chain, as well as discussing a range of new future “green aviation” projections which will help to anchor work in the UK.

A spokesman for the North Wales Conservative MPs said “We were devastated to hear that more than 1,400 of the 1,730 jobs being lost nationally would be from Broughton which has been such a key part of life and the economy of North East Wales for so long.

"The UK Government has already provided £6bn in specific support for the aerospace sector which is welcome and much-needed however Conservative MPs across North Wales will continue to do all we can to save as many of these skilled jobs as possible.

"We are meeting with ministers and officials from both BEIS and the Treasury on a daily basis to discuss plans and options to seek to reduce the number of jobs at risk."