The announcement of the intention to put the vessels out to international contract comes at a time when three yards employing Prospect members face immediate redundancies or uncertain futures. 400 jobs are risk at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife, hundreds of redundancies were announced at Devonport Dockyard in Devon recently and members at Portsmouth Dockyard also face an uncertain future.

"We welcome the questions raised in the House of Commons by Fife MP Douglas Chapman last week" said Prospect's National Secretary for Scotland Richard Hardy "we're meeting with Douglas on May 1st to discuss the issue further."

"The Prime Ministers response that the National Shipbuilding strategy will protect jobs and create a bright future for British shipbuilding is nonsensical" Hardy continued "especially when you consider the Strategy explicitly states that the Government should consider all the benefits of building at home such as jobs both directly in the yards and in the supply chain, benefit to the public purse of avoiding benefit payments and increases in tax revenues and innovation incentives, rather than just going for the cheapest options. You don't protect jobs by placing contracts abroad when thousands of jobs are at risk here in the UK."

Hardy concluded "It's not as if going for the bargain basement price doesn't have other substantial strategic risks; the recent tanker build in Korea for the RFA saw delays and cost overruns, whereas the Queen Elizabeth was delivered on time by a combination of British yards"

Prospect will continue to fight for it's members jobs and a secure future for the British defence shipbuilding industry