Carrier jobs joy but is cost too high?

SCOTLAND celebrated its biggest ever defence boost yesterday as the contract for the UK’s most powerful warships was signed after a decade of delays.

Britain’s two largest aircraft carriers – HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales – will guarantee 5,000 jobs in Scotland for at least the next decade.

But even before the ink was dry, the government was being challenged on whether it was justified in spending £3.2 billion – or £4 billion if inflation is taken into account – on two warships that will not be ready until 2014 and 2016, at a time when Britain’s armed forces are stretched to breaking point fighting wars on two fronts.

Unionist and Nationalist politicians also clashed over whether the Rosyth and Govan dockyards could ever win such jobs again, if Scotland became independent.

At the signing ceremony in Portsmouth, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, hailed the safeguarding of 10,000 UK jobs.

"This is a historic day for everyone in defence," he said. "This is truly a national project, involving companies from the Clyde to the Solent. Construction work will create or sustain around 10,000 UK jobs at the peak of production.

"The two aircraft carriers will provide our forces with the worldclass capabilities they will need over the coming decades. They will support peacekeeping and conflict prevention, as well as our strategic operational priorities."

Mr Browne, also the Scottish Secretary, added: "Today’s contract signing seals the future for thousands of jobs, and ensures that we will have a Royal Navy fit for the 21st century."

More than half the massive ships, each the length of three football pitches, will be built in Govan and Rosyth.

Workers in Govan will build the hull blocks, while assembly will be carried out in Rosyth.

The work will support more than 3,000 jobs on the Clyde yards and sustain 1,600 jobs at Rosyth.

A decade after the carriers were formally proposed by the Ministry of Defence, contracts signed yesterday included:

• £1.33 billion for the construction of giant sections of both ships by BVT Surface Fleet at Govan and in Portsmouth;

• £300 million for the construction of giant sections of the ships at the BAE Systems yard at BarrowinFurness;

• £675 million to build the bow sections and for final assembly and completion of the ships by Babcock Marine, with assembly taking place at Rosyth;

• £424 million for design and engineering for Thales UK;

• £275 million for design and supply of mission systems for BAE Systems Integrated Systems Technologies (Insyte).

Workers and defence chiefs welcomed the news, but with British forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, doubts had been cast on whether the contracts would ever be signed.

Defence analysts were split on whether it was wise to spend £4 billion on warships that would take six and eight years to come into service, at a time when troops abroad have faced helicopter and armoured vehicle shortages.

Andrew Brookes, a defence analyst, said Britain could not afford the contracts. "We can’t afford the cost of the aircraft carriers, the cost of the Joint Strike Fighters to go on them, and all the replenishment, escort and protecting vessels," he said.

"We can’t afford that without a major increase in funding, which I can’t see coming."

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and a former army officer, said: "Of course, we have to have the normal deterrent of aircraft carriers, but our kids are dying on the ground in Afghanistan. They are not getting the equipment they need to be properly protected.

"The funds for the carriers should come from the Royal Navy budget, but it in the end, it is all part of the same pool of cash."

Janet Lowrie, from Dumbarton, whose son is in Iraq and who is part of Military Families Against The War, said the money would have been better spent on protective equipment for frontline troops. "Our vehicles break down all the time, so replace them – save lives," she said.

But Jon Rosamond, the editor of Jane’s Navy International magazine, said the cost and the effort of building the carriers were justified. "Yes, times are tight, but now is not the time to stop paying the insurance premiums," he said. "The aircraft carriers are an insurance policy for the future. It gives us flexibility, and we are looking 50 years into the future. Who knows what will happen?"

Eric Joyce, the Labour MP for Falkirk and a former member of the Black Watch, welcomed the investment and warned: "This is the last time in Scotland we will get jobs like this if it goes independent."

Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader and the party’s defence spokesman, also welcomed the signing of the contracts, and hit back at Mr Joyce, saying: "Scotland has the best yards and best workforce in the world and, in all circumstances, will secure orders on the basis of their formidable skills, and a record of delivery which is second to none."

Commitment that was ten years in the making

Ross Lydall

IT HAS been one of the most protracted procurements in defence history.

Talk of future aircraft carriers has now been bandied about for a decade, since the 1998 Strategic Defence Review. Over that time, the Royal Navy has faced severe cutbacks. It has lost ten frigates and is now down to only 25.

But commanders have taken it on the chin, putting up with severe contraction in the hope that the future aircraft carrier deal would be pulled off.

It was on 25 July, 2007 that Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, announced that a contract would be placed for two 65,000tonne carriers, to be named HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

But negotiations were delayed due to the fact that a new company had to be formed to build the ships, and this did not technically come into being until this week. This resulted in deadlines slipping from March to April. The Ministry of Defence’s commitment to the deal was restated in May and it was finally sealed yesterday.

The deal was previously announced in December 2005 but, because of its size, was at risk of cost pressures within the MoD. Back in 2005 the aim was for the carriers to enter service in 2012 and 2015.

Even then, shipyards had been waiting for months for confirmation of the contracts, knowing how important they were to securing longterm work.

Throughout the long wait, Scots MPs have been concerned at the lack of alternative work in the interim. The Scottish affairs committee recently published a report outlining the importance of the carriers to the nation’s workforce and pleading with the MoD to press ahead and rubberstamp the contract.

MPs even pressed the government to keep the dockyards busy with building smaller research vessels, but these were designated as commercial rather than naval vessels, meaning that competition rules applied and the work could not be kept within the UK and had to be tendered across the European Union.

At present, Scottish workers are working on the Type 45 programme frigates. HMS Daring is due to come into service in December next year.

The Royal Navy has only two aircraft carriers – HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious – in active service. A third, HMS Invincible, is "onside" at Portsmouth after retiring in 2005. It is due to be sold in 2010.

This has sparked concerns that, with the new carriers not due to enter service to 2014 and 2016 respectively, the navy will be left underresourced. Ark Royal is due to be withdrawn from service in 2012 and Illustrious in 2015. MPs warned that time was running out for work to start on the new ships to bring their first into service in 2014.

Workers tell of relief and joy as future is secured

Craig Brown

Apprentices throw their hats in the air at the Govan shipyardAS THE news filtered through at Govan and Rosyth yesterday, the workers were overjoyed.

At the BVT Surface Fleet yard on the Clyde, Jamie Webster, the GMB union’s yard convener, said: "When I woke up this morning, I realised that it was DDay for this. I felt a mixture of relief and joy.

"Relief mainly because it’s been the longest, most protracted decision we’ve had on a project. It will bring employment and stability to the Clyde.

"There was a real sense of euphoria here today but there is still the job to deliver, and that is to build these ships.

"Compared with these new projects, the Ark Royal and Illustrious will look like rowing boats. They are going to be incredible.

"It is amazing to think that in 1999, we were two days from closing. I could never imagine that we would get to where we are now."

For firstyear apprentice Joanne McGlinchy the news was a major boost. She said: "This is a really great day for everyone here at Govan and in all the other Scottish yards that will benefit from this work.

"I am really excited about being involved in something this huge right at the beginning of my career. I cannot wait to get started."

At Rosyth, where workers finished work early after the news, the announcement was met with joy.

Bernie Hamilton, the Unite national area officer for shipyards, was present at the signing of the east coast contract. He worked at Rosyth during the 1980s and 1990s.

He said: "When it was decided by the Tories in 1993 to take the refit of nuclear submarines from Rosyth it always seemed that there could never be a recovery, because the people and infrastructure to do that left the yard.

"Today’s announcement gives Rosyth a future for generations to come.

"It gives people a sense of that there is a tomorrow and lets communities plan."