BELFAST, July 1 (Reuters) - Politicians raised concerns

on Monday about jobs not secured in Airbus' takeover of

the bulk of production at Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ) plant in

Belfast, one of Northern Ireland's biggest employers.

Airbus' move to take control of the core activities at four

Spirit plants, including in Belfast where the fuselage supplier

employs around 3,600 people, was part of Boeing's ( BA ) $4.7

billion deal on Monday to buy back Spirit.

Located yards from the shipyard that built the Titanic in

East Belfast, the plant is by far the most important

manufacturer left in the capital city, once one of the key

industrial centres of the British empire.

While most of Spirit's Belfast production is on Airbus jets,

the Unite trade union, which represents the majority of Spirit

workers across the United Kingdom, has said around 40% of the

jobs there are tied to lines for other air manufacturers

including Bombardier and Rolls Royce.

Spirit plans to sell the parts of the factory that do not

support the Airbus manufacturing programmes separately. The

Airbus deal is subject to due diligence, which the planemaker

said it would complete in as timely a manner as possible.

The leader of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, the

Democratic Unionist Party's (DUP) Gavin Robinson, said the sale

represented only "a partial solution".

The plant - which Spirit bought from Bombardier in 2020 when

staff were caught in the crosshairs of a far-off trade war - has

been a pillar of Belfast's economy for decades. Unite estimates

that a further 7,000 job across Northern Ireland depend on

supplying the plant.

Originally owned by Short Brothers, the world's oldest

planemaker, the site is of particular significance to the

region's mainly protestant unionist community who long provided

the vast majority of workers at Shorts and the neighbouring

Harland & Wolff shipyards, which built the Titanic.

Steve Aiken, a member of the smaller Ulster Unionist Party,

said it was an outcome "neither management, workforce or the

unions desired", calling on Northern Ireland's economy minister

to intervene to ensure the entire business is retained.

"The minister also needs to emphasis to Airbus the

considerable investment the Northern Irish and UK governments

have made in wing and aerostructure manufacturing in Belfast and

that we will not be allowing our aircraft industry to be asset

stripped and manufacturing moved elsewhere," Aiken added.

Economy Minister Conor Murphy said in a statement that he

was engaging with all involved to ensure workers are protected.