As many as 50,000 people have signed a petition and handed it to Parliament, urging David Cameron to reverse a decision to award a train project to a German firm. The 1.5 billion contract for the Thameslink rail project has been given to Siemens, which was chosen over the British manufacturer Bombardier.

Without the contract, hundreds of jobs at the Bombardier Crusade plant in Derby are threatened. Despite a personal pledge by the Prime Minister that he would support British manufacturing jobs, Siemens was announced as the preferred bidder three weeks ago. After the announcement, Bombardier declared that it would have to cut at least 1,400 jobs, effectively ending the only train manufacturing company in the UK.

Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for Derby North, handed the petition over in Parliament yesterday. He said that is was “staggering” how many people supported a u-turn on the decision.  He pointed out that the French government only buy from France, adding that it is unfair for politicians to hide behind EU rules.

Continuing, Mr Williamson said that he hopes that government will mirror what was done in 1971 when Rolls-Royce went into administration and they were bailed out, adding that feelings in his constituency are running extremely high.

Siemens has, however, claimed it will create 2,000 new jobs in the UK due to the contract, although it is not believed that any of these will be in Derby. The company also employs 16,000 people already in the UK.