Following the announcement that Babcock Marine plan to axe 300 jobs at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, Stephenson said:

“The company’s rationale for these cuts makes no sense. As recently as September, Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth firmly stated that there would be more than enough Ministry of Defence work for Devonport.

“Babcock’s workforce contains an unrivalled skills base, but today’s cuts coupled with the ongoing uncertainty over the yard’s future can only harm this body of expertise. Morale is plummeting and staff will leave rather than wait for the axe to drop.”

While Stephenson welcomed the company’s commitment to seek to achieve the redundancies through voluntary measures, he called on the government to clarify the position over future work for the yard so that staffing levels could stabilise.