THE Government is putting pressure on the United States to do more to ensure that Lancashire Aerospace products can be sold in America.

Trade Minister Brian Wilson revealed the tough line after representations from the Consortium of Lancashire Aerospace when quizzed on the issue by Pendle MP Gordon Prentice.

The Government is alarmed at problems in gaining Federal Aviation Authority approval for British firms -- many in East Lancashire -- to repair American-registered aircraft and aircraft parts.

US planes can only have work carried out overseas with FAA approval but because of the cut in the number of its inspectors in the UK there is now a backlog of two years with 37 British companies waiting for approval.

Mr Prentice warned that jobs in aerospace in East Lancashire and the rest of the UK were in jeopardy, affecting £200 million a year of business for Britain.

He told Mr Wilson in the Commons: "The long and the short of the matter is that American companies can repair British and European aircraft in the United States but we cannot always repair American aircraft.

"The Federal Aviation Authority has been dragging its feet systematically for years and failing to appoint inspectors that it requires in the United Kingdom to ensure that there is a level playing field in aerospace.

"What is happening is having an enormous adverse impact in Lancashire -- the county of aerospace."

Mr Wilson endorsed Mr Prentice's comments and answered the MP's plea to take the matter up with the US by saying that transport ministers were already doing so.

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