Workers at the Darlington plant remember the lines clearly: “China is keeping us open – 80% of what we are building is going to China” In the middle of lockdown, they were handed letters claiming Cummins engines were critical to emergency services, effectively branding them as “key workers.” The reality? We’re still digging. FOI requests to UK emergency services about procurement during COVID-19 have returned a frustrating mix of refusals and confirmations — not a single service has confirmed they were using engines from Darlington during that period.
My local MP, Alan Strickland, and his team have confirmed what the statutory framework makes clear: “Essential services” under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 were strictly those critical to health, welfare, safety, or economic continuity – healthcare, social care, transport, education, food, utilities, and financial services.
Supplying diesel engines to the Chinese construction sector? That’s a hard stretch.
This isn’t about finger-pointing. It’s about clarity. Cummins has the chance to step up and explain: were any Darlington engines truly essential to UK public health or safety, or were workers kept on the line primarily for export demand?
We invite Cummins to respond – to set the record straight. Workers, regulators, and the public deserve the full picture. Until then, the questions remain open, the facts on the table, and the story far from finished. We will publish any response verbatim. We don’t think that ignoring these concerns, given the lives lost and changed, is a tenable position for Cummins.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project