Thousands of jobs at Leonardo Helicopters have been secured after a £435m investment by its Italian parent company.

The funding was announced by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on a visit to Italy earlier this week and will be shared around the company’s UK sites.

Part of the money has been spent on a £30m warehouse, which opened in Yeovil earlier.

CEO of Leonardo UK Clive Higgins described the investment as a “vote of confidence for Yeovil”, with “lots” of the money going to the town.

The company directly employs 3,000 people at its Yeovil site and it supports another “12,500 in its supply chain”, he said.

“I’m really pleased that the team here in Yeovil have been able to secure some of this funding.

“We talk about growth, we talk about prosperity, we talk about highly skilled jobs and some of that is right here in Yeovil in terms of over 180 apprentices and graduates coming onto programmes,” Mr Higgins added.

Mr Higgins said the funding would “help secure highly-skilled jobs in the engineering functions” in Yeovil.

“It will also make sure we’re investing in the manufacturing equipment, the technology and the sustainable environment we need,” he said.

The announcement puts the company in a good position for new export orders, as well as a major Ministry of Defence contract worth up to £1bn, for which Leonardo is now the sole bidder.