Fleet Solid Support Ship contract is another broken promise by the government

The Prime Minister’s visited Harland and Wolff dockyards in Belfast today (Friday 16 December) to talk about the recent  Fleet Solid Support Ships contract which was awarded to a consortium which is taking a lot of the work, and the intellectual property, overseas.

The government has promised British jobs in the dockyards and further supply chain jobs  in the rest of the UK but there are question marks around whether or not those will be delivered with the consortium chosen.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect,  said:

“The Fleet Solid Support Ship contract is another broken promise by the government to protect British ship-building and to support British jobs.

“Since the Prime Minister has betrayed British ship-building 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 that 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.”