The meeting followed Mr Chapman raising the issue of the Fleet Solid Support Vessel (FSS) contract being "offshored" at Prime Ministers Questions on April 25th.

Prospect is concerned that the 400 jobs currently at risk at Rosyth could increase if the yard is not successful in winning further work. The offshoring of the FSS contract means that more work which could have been brought to the Yard (or indeed any British yard) to protect skills and jobs has been lost. 

With no further news on when an announcement will be made on who will build the new Type 31e frigates, members at Rosyth are facing uncertainties about the future.

"We welcome Douglas' commitment to fighting for jobs at Rosyth" commented National Secretary Hardy "the meeting was a positive one, and it's clear Douglas is taking a positive cross party approach to his campaigning, this dovetails well with our own approach, and we were able to agree a number of joint initiatives, including seeking a high level meeting with Babcock"

"Lets be clear" concluded Hardy "it's pointless the Government having, and the Prime Minister talking about, a National Shipbuilding Strategy, when at the first opportunity they ignore the need to protect skilled defence jobs in the UK, and go straight for a bargain basement approach to procurement for the FSS contract. We look forward to working with Douglas and other Dockyard constituency MPs to make the case that Defence jobs matter"