THE GOVERNMENT has been urged not to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' amid growing fears that a crucial BAE Eurofighter order will not be placed.

North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) chief executive Martin Wright said there was a genuine risk the defence industry could be savaged by ministers.

And he said that once East Lancashire and the rest of Britain lost aerospace expertise, it would never be recovered.

It comes as bosses at BAE Systems in Samlesbury wait anxiously to see whether a new order will be placed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

The project employs 2,000 at the site but is under threat as Defence Secretary Liam Fox aims to find 25 per cent cuts at the MoD.

Mr Wright said: “The UK is number two in the world in terms of defence and aerospace and the issue we have is we don’t want the Government to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

“Typhoon is in a good place for attracting orders from places like Japan, India and Saudi Arabia, but if they cut really hard it would harm places like East Lancashire that rely heavily on aerospace and defence contracts.

“Those jobs are high-value added ones but if they are lost we would never, ever regain that position.”

Mr Wright’s comments come after Ian Godden, chairman of aerospace lobby group ADS, said the UK’s £35billion defence sector could be cut in half by Whitehall cuts.

The NWAA has pledged to keep up pressure on MPs and ministers to ensure East Lancashire’s aerospace industry has a voice in Westminster.

Ministers will announce in October’s comprehensive spending review whether the MoD will go ahead with the tranche 3b order for Eurofighter Typhoon.

The project also supports East Lancashire aerospace firms in BAE’s supply chain but reports have suggested an order will not be placed.

And before May’s election, Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said tranche 3b was 'neither affordable nor necessary'.

Yesterday BAE said: “It is inappropriate to comment on speculation.”