Union chiefs today claimed that workers at RAF Cosford were now “highly demoralised” after plans to move UK troops based in Germany to the Shropshire air base were shelved.

Mike Veric, Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union spokesman, said up to 400 jobs were under threat from the Ministry of Defence’s decision to delay Operation Borona by two years.

It comes as Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard took on Defence Minister Bill Rammell in Parliament last night and pressed him on the future of civilian training instructors at the base.

A MoD announcement yesterday confirmed the transfer of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE), currently based at Cosford providing training for aircraft engineers and tradesmen, would still move to St Athan in Wales as planned from 2014.

But the minister said the movement of 2,600 troops from Germany to Cosford, due to start in 2016, would now not take place until 2018 at the earliest.

It will leave no military presence at the base, currently home to more than 3,000 staff and trainees, after the St Athan switch and has led to claims it will be “mothballed” – claims denied by Mr Rammell.

But union chief Mr Veric said the announcement yesterday had hit staff at Cosford hard. He said: “I know for a fact they are highly demoralised.

“The people based there are mostly highly-qualified instructors.

“When the St Athan move goes ahead there will be no-one for them to train with this delay.

“What alternative work is there for them in Shropshire?”