STRIKING Rolls-Royce workers have won vital backing from Lancashire County Council to save jobs in Barnoldswick.

This comes as the dispute, launched by members of the Unite union in opposition to the company’s plan to cut 350 jobs as part of an offshoring move that will see parts of the plant moved from Barnoldswick to Singapore, has entered its seventh week.

Now, Lancashire County Council labour group leader Councillor Azhar Ali says that the authority decided last week that it will be asking prime minister Boris Johnson to act to save jobs.

Councillor Ali said: “We’ve got the support of Lancashire County Council to ask Boris Johnson’s government to intervene to persuade Rolls-Royce invest in the Barnoldwick site.

“I want to thank Unite the Union for their campaign to save jobs in the Battle for Barnoldswick.”

The workers have already received messages of support from Labour leader Keir Starmer, Conservative MP for Pendle Andrew Stephenson and Liberal Democrat Councillor David Whipp.

Meanwhile, despite the harsh striking conditions with the plant locked down until after Christmas the workers have also managed to raise over £3,000 in donations for Pendleside Hospice.

Unite officer Ross Quinn said: “We’ve run out of ways to describe the unbelievable courage and determination of this workforce.”