Lucas: “Government Wants To Close Remploy Factories”
This article is old - Published: Thursday, Sep 1st, 2011
Wrexham MP Ian Lucas has accused the UK government of having a secret agenda to close Remploy factories including the one in Wrexham.
Wrexham MP Ian Lucas has accused the UK government of having a hidden agenda to close Remploy factories.
He said that despite having announced they are “attracted” to the recommendations of a report which would see Remploy factories leave public ownership to compete for business on the open market, the government are refusing to provide information about Remploy sites during a consultation period on the proposals.
Mr Lucas has met with Remploy staff in Wrexham and is working alongside local Councillor Dave Bithell, trade unions and others to try to secure the future of the town’s factory.
He also wrote to Department of Work and Pensions Minister Maria Miller in July requesting financial information about the Wrexham site as part of the campaign to keep it open.
However, Ms Miller has said as the consultation remains open, it is “not appropriate” to release such information at this stage.
Mr Lucas said: “The government has a hidden agenda to close Remploy factories and will not even give out information to help keep them open. While they say they are ‘attracted’ to the idea of making factories compete on the open market, they are using the current consultation period as an excuse to refuse to provide information which would help them compete.
“Campaigners are stuck in a catch-22 situation as a result, they cannot build a case to compete if the government takes away support, because the government is consulting on taking away that support.
“These are weasel words from a government that has no intention of supporting some of our most vulnerable workers.”
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