The cancelling of a multi-billion pound shipbuilding order would be "catastrophic" and put thousands of Scottish jobs at risk, the SNP has warned. The £2.5billion plan to build five new Type 32 frigates at Rosyth shipyard could be cancelled as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt plans to divert funding elsewhere, according to the Sunday Times.
The order to make Britain "the foremost naval power in Europe" was announced two years ago by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Work on the frigates is supposed to begin in 2028. The project was to employ more than 1,200 staff and help retain thousands of jobs in the supply chain.
But they could be dropped in this spring's defence review. Current work on Type 26 frigates at BAE Systems Clyde yards and Type 31 frigates at Babcock's Rosyth yards will start to wind down in the second half of this decade.
This has led to fears that Scotland's shipbuilding industry could be hit with widespread job losses if the Type 32 frigates do not go ahead. The SNP have said that it would be a "betrayal" if the project did not go ahead.
SNP Defence spokesperson Dave Doogan said: "The Ministry of Defence (MoD) habitually vires money from one budget allocation to shore up another more immediate overspend, only to subsequently reflate the donor budget at a later date. It’s a dysfunctional way of accounting but they seem wedded to it.
"I very much hope that is what the Admiralty are doing with Type 32 because cancelling this work would be catastrophic in operational terms for the Royal Navy and in industrial strategy terms for Rosyth, the wider supply chain and shipbuilding in general.
"If the Prime Minister cancels Type 32 it would represent a gross betrayal of Scotland and of industry partners, principally Babcock, who have invested so much private capital in Rosyth and are right now delivering the extraordinary Type 31 frigate together with unprecedented value for money to the taxpayer.
"All the more remarkable as the MoD is profoundly unused to securing value for money in many of its innumerable procurement disasters.
"It's already clear that UK Government’s commitment to domestic shipbuilding is now fatally flawed with their award of the Navy’s three Fleet Solid Support ships to Navantia in Spain, but any move to reduce frigate orders would signal a return to a famine in ship orders and will make a mockery of Sir John Parker’s universally lauded National Ship Building Strategy."
Labour MP Ian Murray said: “This Tory government clearly would rather export jobs than create them here in Scotland. We know that the SNP and the Tories cannot be trusted to stand up for Scotland’s workers - only Labour will.”
The MoD did not confirm whether the order would be scrapped or not.
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “The Type 32 is planned after the Type 31 at the end of the decade. Its design and capabilities will depend on what the Navy’s needs are at the middle of the decade and the number of ships will depend on whether Type 31 and Type 26 remains within budget. The strategic and long term investments continue to be on track and will increase the capability and size of the fleet.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
