AN improved trading performance by Rolls-Royce has been heralded by an East Lancashire MP.

But Pendle’s Andrew Stephenson has sought reassurances from the engineering giant that county jobs are safe after 160 redundancies were announced earlier this year.

Civil aerospace operations, which includes their Ghyll Brow and Bankfield plants in Barnoldswick, has suffered a series of recent major blows.

Last April a deterioration issue was identified with high-pressure turbine blades in their Trent 1000 TEN range, which caused a number of aircraft to be grounded.

Rolls-Royce was also having to contend with the decision by Airbus to cease production of their A380 superjumbos, which featured Trent engines.

Another engineering issue, with Trent 1000 engines in the Boeing 787 Dreamliners, has also plagued the civil section.

Civil aerospace revenues, for the first half of 2019, are said to have improved by 11 per cent and they have only recorded a £21million loss for the six months in the sector, despite the Trent difficulties.

Around £219million had to be spent on Trent 1000 issues for the first half of 2019, compared to just £107million this time last year.

Chief executive Warren East said: “We have made good progress on resolving the Trent 1000 compressor issue, though regretfully, customer disruption remains.”

He has predicted that the company is still on track to post profits of £700million across the group by the end of the year.

Mr Stephenson has met previously with Mr East to discuss the future of their Barnoldswick factories and been told that the West Craven sites remain important to the firm.

The MP, Aerospace Minister under Theresa May, said: “We remain in uncertain times for local Rolls-Royce workers and their families.

“I remain deeply concerned by the number of redundancies made by the company in recent years and will do whatever I can to protect jobs in Barnoldswick.

“Rolls-Royce has assured me previously that there is a long-term future for their local sites and their recent level of investment is welcome.

“However, we need to see these sites gaining more work going forward, especially components for the future generation of engines, to ensure more job security for Pendle residents.”

Mr Stephenson said he also lobbied new Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom over the significance of Rolls-Royce to East Lancashire.