Labour would give a £1.6bn shipbuilding contract to UK firms, the Mirror has revealed. The pledge would secure 6,000 British jobs.
The party is making the promise at its conference in Liverpool this week. Shadow defence secretary John Healey will confirm the policy which would give the deal for three Fleet Solid Support vessels to UK companies.
Healey told the Mirror: “We have seen a decade of failure on defence procurement where price rules everything else – competition is the cardinal interest from government ministers and they’re just as happy to see British taxpayers’ money buying equipment abroad as they are building defence equipment in Britain.”
The 40,000-tonne Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels will resupply Royal Navy warships, including the £6.2bn Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, with food, ammunition and explosives. The new vessels will start coming into service from 2028.
Four consortia were each given £5m by the Ministry of Defence to develop their bids. The shortlist includes Team UK, involving Babcock and BAE Systems; Mumbai-based Larsen & Toubro; Dutch firm Damen Group; and Team Resolute, led by Spanish shipbuilders Navantia.
Team UK estimates 2,000 British jobs will be safeguarded directly by the programme, with 1,500 more protected in the wider supply chain – and another 2,500 jobs indirectly benefiting in communities surrounding the yards. Across the Mersey from the Liverpool conference centre is Cammell Laird’s Birkenhead shipyard, where work is currently taking place on the 33,675-tonne ship Fort Victoria – another RFA supply ship.
Labour's move was welcomed by unions. Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions general secretary Ian Waddell told the Mirror: "Labour's announcement will be very welcome across our shipbuilding communities and throughout the supply chain which extends into every part of the UK.”
