ANGER is growing over the Ministry of Defence’s decision to pause the process of procuring Type31e frigates with two trade unions, the SNP and Labour all blasting the UK Government over the delay that could see redundancies in Scottish yards.
The main shipbuilding unions say the Ministry of Defence (MoD) decision to halt the vital Type 31e frigate order is a “body blow” to Scottish shipbuilding.
The MoD says it has been forced to rethink the acquisition strategy for its Type 31e general-purpose frigate programme after terminating the original procurement process at short notice, citing insufficient compliant bids for an effective and robust competition – “they wanted too much but wouldn’t pay for it,” as one union source put it.
Prospect union and GMB officials in Scotland have written a joint open letter to the defence secretary and other politicians warning of the effects of the decision.
The letter states: “This is a further body blow to many shipbuilding workers and their families on the Clyde and in Fife where we are already seeing significant redundancies as the Carrier programme runs down meaning they will see nothing but a gloomy future ahead.
“This blow to military shipbuilding in Scotland comes at a time when commercial yards such as BiFab in Fife and Lewis and others face an increasingly uncertain future, and so are in no position to alleviate job losses in the sector.
“The success of either of the two leading consortia in the 31e programme would have secured significant investment for Scottish shipyards, be this on the Clyde from the BAE bid or on the Clyde and at Rosyth from the Babcock bid.
“We have previously had the disappointment of the cancellation of the world class frigate factory on the Clyde, the reduction from 13 Type 26 frigates down to eight then the promise of the other five being replaced with five Type 31es, only for this now to be paused due to insufficient bids and competition despite their being three identified consortia in the bidding process.
“We believe that this is simply a smokescreen for the MoD running out of money due to botched privatisations and poorly run procurements in the past.
“Add to this the ill thought out government decision to put the contract for the three new Fleet Solid Support ships out to international tender and the increasing uncertainty about Brexit, and you can see that for our members in the shipbuilding and steel communities, there is a growing belief that this government cares little for their futures.
Ross Murdoch, GMB national officer and maritime chair of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, added: “Is our sovereign defence capability this government’s priority, or treasury budget setting?”
The SNP MP Douglas Chapman, the party’s defence procurement spokesman, called for a more collaborative approach was from the UK Government.
He said: “This ‘cheap as chips approach’ doesn’t cut it. What you really need is an adult conversation with the industry, with the MoD, and the government.
“This would say ‘this is our strategy, this is what we’re following and you need to work together’.
Labour MP for Glasgow North East Paul Sweeney said the MoD’s approach had been “wrong headed” and added: “They need to give confidence to industry that they are going to go with a consortium and then they will be able to invest with confidence to get the infrastructure right and the processes right to build a ship as cheaply and cost-effectively as possible.”
The MoD said: “There have been no changes in our plans to procure a first batch of five new Type 31e frigates to grow our Royal Navy. We still want the first ship delivered by 2023 and are confident that industry will meet the challenge of providing them for the price tag we’ve set.”
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