AEROSPACE giant Rolls-Royce is under fire for cutting 350 jobs at its Barnoldswick site and transferring fan blade work to Singapore.

As the firm, which has posted a £5.4billion loss for the first six months of 2020, announced the redundancies, it revealed it was looking at merging the two factories in in the town, Bankfield and Ghyll Brow.

At the beginning of the year they employed 740 staff but the latest job cuts on top of 220 redundancies announced in June could leave the site with just 170 workers.

Rhys McCarthy, national officer for aerospace at Unite the Union, said: “These plans are a horrible blow for staff, particularly as Rolls-Royce is proposing to abandon production in the UK and move work to Singapore and Germany. Unite will leave no stone unturned to prevent these sites being closed and jobs being moved abroad.

“For Rolls-Royce to lay out plans to lay off the majority of staff at its Barnoldswick sites while moving work to Singapore is a complete betrayal of a skilled and loyal workforce.”

Local Craven ward Liberal Democrat councillor David Whipp said: “This is a devastating blow. Fan blade production is the crown jewels of the company. Putting production in Singapore is a body blow to the whole country. It’s tantamount to treason. I’m in tears over this. I can’t believe that it’s happening.”

Pendle’s Mayor Cllr Ken Hartley, a long-time Rolls employee, said “It is ironic that not too long ago the same workforce who face losing their jobs were happily celebrating theirs and the company's success by training the people in Singapore who today will benefit from the local closures.”