The Jobs Plan Forgot To Invite The Workers

Britain’s defence jobs plan was nearly ready for the public. Then somebody showed it to people who work in defence.

The Guardian reports that Wes Streeting delayed the plan after unions, consulted shortly before publication, objected to their members being sidelined. Ministry of Defence sources confirmed the delay but played down the unions’ role, saying issues remained to be resolved. The ministry says it works closely with unions and will publish when ready.

One can see the scheduling difficulty. A plan to create well-paid, unionised work must eventually encounter a union. Leaving that encounter until just before publication maximises the time during which the plan can be considered finished.

Streeting has promised a defence ministry focused on growth and opportunity, including an ambition to support at least 14,000 apprentices annually by 2035. That is an impressively distant horizon for a proposal that struggled to get through Thursday.

The unions’ reported objection concerned their role in creating those jobs, not merely their absence from a guest list. The future workforce had been assigned a starring role in the announcement. The existing workforce would now like a small speaking part in the plan.