While not wholly unsurprising following the departure of the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and the progress being made on sister ship Prince of Wales Prospect is obviously concerned about the risks to 146 of our members and 104 members of the industrial workforce

"We've known for some time that an announcement was likely," explained Richard Hardy, Prospect National Secretary for Scotland, "and we welcome Babcock's commitment to work with the Trade Unions on addressing the workload issues. As a bottom line we want to ensure that people who want to stay at Rosyth stay, and that Babcock protects its highly skilled permanent workforce."

The run down of work on the carriers highlights the need for the Government to make decisions soon on the next generation of surface warships for the Royal Navy, especially as the recent National Shipbuilding Strategy gave support to a modular building programme, which would hopefully benefit the Rosyth dockyard.

"These workers are key to the future of the UK's defence shipbuilding programme." said Hardy. "We really need the Ministry of Defence to step up to the plate and start the procurement process for both refitting work for the Type 45 destroyers and the new Type 31e frigates."