Campaigners today slammed Rishi Sunak for trumpeting a shipbuilding deal which will hand hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash to a Spanish firm.
The Government has claimed the £1.6billion contract for three Fleet Solid Support vessels has been handed to a British-led bid.
But the parent company of the main firm involved is Madrid-based Navantia.
While 1,200 jobs will be created in the UK - with the ships welded together at Harland & Wolff in Belfast - much of the work will take place in Cadiz.
Hailing the deal on a visit to Harland & Wolff’s shipyard today, the Prime Minister insisted: “Completing the next generation of our world-class, Royal Navy support ships - to strengthen our security at sea and across the globe - could not have found a better home than in Belfast, once the biggest shipyard in the world, with its proud tradition of skill and expertise.
“The thousands of high value jobs and the skills that are gained from delivering it now will help to lay the foundations of prosperity for tomorrow.”
Blasting Mr Sunak’s trip, Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Far from a return of naval shipbuilding, the Conservatives have betrayed UK jobs and businesses.
“The Defence Secretary has picked a Spanish firm to build the Royal Navy’s three new warships - rejecting the opportunity to build, invest and create jobs entirely in the UK, as Labour would.
“With at least 40% of this £1.6bn contract going abroad, the Prime Minister should also be planning a trip to Spain, where he is now a prominent investor.”
The Mirror exclusively revealed last month how ministers were poised to snub the Team UK bid for the 709ft, 40,000-tonne Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels, which will resupply Royal Navy warships with food, ammunition and explosives.
Unions said more UK jobs would have been created if the consortium, which included BAE Systems and Babcock, had won the deal.
But the Tories awarded the contract to the rival Team Resolute - prompting fury among campaigners.
Following the PM’s visit, Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy said: "The Fleet Solid Support ship contract is another broken promise by the Government to protect British shipbuilding and to support British jobs.
“Since the Prime Minister has betrayed British shipbuilding by giving this contract to a consortium that will send most of the high value work and intellectual property overseas, he must now guarantee that the little value to the British economy it promises will actually materialise.
"This must include guaranteeing that the promised British jobs are created and insisting that British steel is used to build the ships.
“If he doesn’t, what looks like a good deal for Spain will become a great deal as the contract progresses."
GMB National Officer Matt Roberts said: “The Fleet Solid Support order must be used as a bridge to rebuilding the UK's shipbuilding industry.
“GMB members across the nations and regions of the UK are ready to deliver the order but too much of the work has been allocated overseas and we are concerned around slide in the wrong direction.
“Promises over UK workshare must be enforceable and binding and promises made on investment in Belfast must be honoured, if not increased.”
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