A FRESH protest is being staged today amid continuing unease over the future of an East Lancashire aerospace factory.

Officials from the union Unite are set to demonstrate outside Rolls Royce at Barnoldswick from noon.

Strike action has hit the jet engine site this summer amid plans to scale back production there.

Unite says it has been seeking assurances that a 350-strong workforce would be maintained there.

But their reps walked out of talks in May, claiming Rolls Royce was set to renege on that pledge.

For years Rolls bosses insisted the Barnoldswick plant, which makes fan blades, would not be sidelined in favour of switching production to Singapore. But the move was confirmed last November.

Unite regional officer Ross Quinn, when industrial action was first backed, said the process of off-loading work away from East Lancs had already 'been accelerated'.

She added: "Our members have been forced to take strike action as the long-term viability of Barnoldswick is once again under threat.

“Our members at Barnoldswick are rightly concerned for their futures. They did not take part in nine weeks of strike action for the employer to go back to their original plan in two years time.

“All Unite is seeking is strict guarantees that the January agreement is fully honoured by Rolls-Royce.

“Unite has been seeking to resolve this dispute through negotiation but the company has failed to issue the assurances that workers need."