Type 26 Frigates (Funding)

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 19 November 2015.

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Photo of Bill Kidd Bill Kidd Scottish National Party

8. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on jobs and Scotland’s economy of the reported Ministry of Defence plan to reduce the number of type 26 frigates being built in order to pay for the replacement of Trident. (S4O-04822)

Photo of Keith Brown Keith Brown Scottish National Party

The Scottish Government and its agencies are working closely with BAE Systems to support investment in the long-term future of shipbuilding capability on the Clyde. BAE was awarded the £860 million demonstration phase contract by the MOD in February 2015, which included provision for ordering of long-lead items for the first three type 26 frigates. We are informed by BAE that negotiations with the MOD in relation to the manufacturing phase contract for the type 26 frigates are scheduled to conclude by the end of March 2016 at the latest. We have further meetings planned with the company in the coming months with a view to supporting the company to maximise the potential of the Clyde operations

Scottish ministers are firmly opposed to the possession, threat and use of nuclear weapons and are committed to securing the safe and complete withdrawal of Trident from Scotland.

Photo of Bill Kidd Bill Kidd Scottish National Party

I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I am concerned that, following the claims that the Scotstoun yard in my Glasgow Anniesland constituency and the Govan yard would close should Scotland vote yes in last year’s referendum, the approach of playing fast and loose with shipyard workers’ jobs in order to waste billions of pounds on an expensive weapon of mass destruction seems to fly in the face of that idea.

Photo of Keith Brown Keith Brown Scottish National Party

I agree that the United Kingdom Government has its defence spending priorities all wrong. It is indefensible for the UK Government to contemplate spending £167 billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons; to do so at the expense of planned surface-ship programmes and jobs in Scotland would be doubly wrong.

In the meantime, Scottish Enterprise has been working closely with BAE Systems Surface Ships Ltd to support its SFM—shipbuilding facilities modernisation—programme. The programme would future proof the yards at Govan and Scotstoun and allow BAE to pursue potential international export opportunities as well as further MOD contracts, including the type 26 work. Our support is independent of the precise outcome of BAE’s negotiations with the MOD on the type 26 contract.

I took the opportunity to raise the issue of the type 26 contract with the United Kingdom Minister of State for Defence Procurement when I met him earlier this week. The message from this Parliament should be that we do not want to see Scottish jobs being sold down the river to pay for nuclear weapons in the future.