Union bosses have renewed their push for the Royal Navy’s £1.5billion support ships to be built in the 海角视频 after gaining support from Labour.
The party has launched a petition calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to guarantee that the contract to build up to three new Fleet Solid Support vessels is placed with 海角视频 yards, possibly now at the reopened Appledore Shipyard in Devon.
GMB has campaigned for the contract to be awarded to 海角视频 shipyards rather than be sent out to tender, and produced a report which estimated 1,800 jobs could be created or secured in 海角视频 yards if the contract was placed domestically.
The Labour Party is now pressing for a “Built in Britain” test for defence and security spending in an attempt to guarantee that ships acquired under the £1.5billion contract will be built in the 海角视频.
Because the stores-carrying Solid Support Ships come under the Royal Fleet Auxiliary they don’t have to be built in the 海角视频, unlike warships, and could be constructed at a lower cost overseas.
In 2018 it was revealed that Plymouth’s Babcock International Group Plc was in the running, but with 11 other firms, including from Spain, Japan and South Korea.
But now Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey has made another request that ministers award the contract to a British consortium.
Ross Murdoch, GMB National Officer and CSEU Chair, said: “It’s fantastic that Labour has backed our campaign to keep the £1.5billion Fleet Solid Support order in the 海角视频.
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“For years the Conservatives have claimed – falsely – that these ships had to go to international tender. It’s nonsense - no other major military power builds support ships overseas.
“Ministers promised a shipbuilding ‘renaissance’ but instead skilled workers are being laid off while major orders are sent overseas.
“GMB once again calls on the Government to adopt this important report and guarantee that in future all Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships will be built in 海角视频 yards.”
Mr Johnson, on a visit to Devon’s newly reopened Appledore Shipyard, this week hinted it might receive Government contracts as part of a plan to make the 海角视频 a “shipbuilding superpower”.
The Tory supremo stressed reigniting the ship-building industry at the yard, which has had a chequered history, would not be easy, but the Government and its new owners were “very determined”.
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The former-Babcock yard has now been bought by Harland and Wolff owner InfraStrata, in a £7million deal, and the Prime Minister hinted, without giving specifics, that contacts could come the way of the newly named Harland and Wolff (Appledore) yard.
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He said: “There are potential contracts, for reasons of commercial confidentiality and because of the procurement process, I can’t go into the things I might like to see here, but I’m hopeful.
“It’s important not to over-promise, but I do think there is a potential for a fantastic future here, if we can get things moving fast enough. I think we can. If you look at Rosyth, at Govan, at the places we are building ships around the 海角视频 at the moment, all the yards are full and it stretches on for years and years and years.
“So we have demand and we need to get Appledore and indeed Harland and Wolff, in Belfast, ready to start making things again. That’s the plan. I won’t pretend it is going to be easy, but we are very determined.”
He added: “This exciting new chapter for Appledore will create hundreds of new jobs in the South West and beyond and will drive forward our ambitions to become a shipbuilding superpower.”