Danny Carrigan, the Scottish Regional Secretary of the engineering union, the AEEU, said he was pleased that Mr Blair had intervened and he was hopeful it would help.

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Winter, a former Navy secretary who is an engineering professor at the University of Michigan.

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Former education secretary Lord Baker, engineering employers, 43 Wessex Brigade and the University of Southampton have all backed the plans.

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Business Secretary Vince Cable said he was pleased to see the creation of highly-skilled engineering jobs.

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Dr Paul Watkins, honorary secretary of the British Orthopaedic Research Society, said scientists were working on other tissue engineering techniques to replace damaged cartilage tissue.

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