CG: Short (Ha!) of Nationalisation, HMG can't re-shape anything. If PM were to instruct MoD (or Vince Cable's Industry lot) to meddle, large bills would waft their way.
A proposed merger/takeover has lapsed. A daily event. Bankers and other leeches have lost fat fees. Bankers and hacks are pontificating about Plan B -such as merge with RR. Why? On this occasion, the Do Nothing Option is entirely legitimate. Instead of adding to the agenda of Main Board, flicking through Business Units' performance - 4 minutes each 4 times a year, some Units might now be unloaded. A daily event for conglomerates.
That's what BAES became when moving into Orange, Rover, Royal Ordnance...One of those was seen as fast flowing cash, the other 2 as Land Banks. BAES is not in the Britsh aero industry. There is no British aero industry. SBAC long ago became the Single British Aircraft Co. When he was at Defence Hoon (c.2003) declared this firm had no patrimony: when selecting sources he would be blind to its B. When they sold their Airbus SAS position, they themselves deleted the AE, to become a Systems Co. They then sold to Finmeccanica such (ex-Marconi et al) black box manufacture as remained. Today (bae)S plc is a trader of a portfolio of assets - Companies, trying to minimise ownership of touch labour. So are Boeing, LMAC, NG. Some operating Units retain engineering flair, despite, not because of any central Corporate culture. Those can/will be sold profitably, the laggards gently expiring. It does not matter in the slightest whether the buyer of a switched-on Unit is Brit or Timbuktu. Its jobs will stay onshore for exactly as long as that makes financial sense to the proud owner. Ministers cannot influence any of this, because they must buy the best kit for the job. Not prop up jobs on kit no-one wants.