Concern that work on multimillion MoD order for type-26 frigates, expected to begin this year, may not start until 2017

Shipworkers on the Clyde in Glasgow are gearing up for a battle to save their jobs, amid fears the government is backsliding on a pledge to provide a steady stream of orders to safeguard the industry in what is being described as a potential hammer blow to British shipbuilding.

Work on new type-26 frigates ordered by the Ministry of Defence, in a deal announced by David Cameron, had been expected to begin this year, but there are concerns it could be delayed until 2017.



Plans for a state-of-the-art “frigate factory” – which it had been hoped would help the yard win future export orders – also appear to have been shelved, and there are concerns that work promised to Scotland will be relocated to England.

The multimillion-pound contract was announced in February 2015, having been delayed until after the Scottish independence referendum, during which the future of shipbuilding on the Clyde was a key issue.

Pro-union campaigners insisted that loss of contracts would be inevitable if Scotland became independent because UK military ships can only be built in UK shipyards.

Another MoD contract, this time to build smaller offshore patrol vessels, was announced by the coalition government during the final weeks of the referendum campaign. It was regarded with suspicion by many yes voters who believed that the no campaign – dubbed Project Fear – was over-selling the threat to jobs should Scotland choose to become independent.

With an electorate still very much alive to charges of betrayal of commitments made before the referendum, this latest jobs threat on the Clyde could harm the Scottish Conservatives as they attempt to exploit Labour’s weakness and become the second party and main opposition to the SNP in May’s Holyrood elections.

The shadow defence secretary, Emily Thornberry, insisted the government must honour its commitments to Glasgow workers. She said: “This would be a hammer blow to the British shipbuilding industry, one that cannot be allowed, so I have immediately written to [defence secretary] Michael Fallon demanding assurances that the Tories will honour the commitments they made to the people of Glasgow.

“It is essential that the type-26 project goes ahead as planned, and that any decision to alter the substance or timetable of the government’s commitments is overturned immediately. If not, the workforce on the Clyde will rightly feel betrayed, angry and abandoned by the Tories, and the unions will have our full support in fighting these plans.”

In last autumn’s defence review, the government announced that it would order eight frigates instead of the original 13; and there are concerns that promised work on smaller offshore patrol vehicles will not be sufficient to keep the yards’ order books full and maintain the workforce.



The government is expected to publish a national shipbuilding strategy later this year, and there are also fears that work that has been promised to Scotland could be transferred elsewhere. “It’s about George Osborne’s northern powerhouse and Tory seats in the south,” said one source.

SNP MPs Chris Stephens and Carol Monaghan, whose constituencies include the threatened yards, requested a meeting with Philip Dunne, the minister for defence procurement, in March to discuss the future of shipbuilding on the Clyde and emphasised the impact any delays would have locally.

Stephens and Monaghan also wrote to the defence secretary seeking assurances that the government “will honour its promises to the workforce and that the procurement timetable will be kept to with no unnecessary delays”.



A spokesperson for BAE Systems, which owns the Govan and Scotstoun naval shipyards, said: “Following the strategic defence and security review, we are working with the Ministry of Defence to agree a revised baseline for the type-26 ships and a production schedule for the two additional offshore patrol vessels in Glasgow. We are engaging our trades unions as we work through this process. Our focus is to deliver the capability the Royal Navy needs, while ensuring the best value for UK taxpayers.”

Unions have said they are prepared to take radical action to safeguard jobs, including blockading the aircraft carriers being built at Rosyth, where some workers are seconded. “Those ships are going nowhere,” one insider said.

Before the referendum, the Guardian reported from BAE’s Scotstoun shipyard and found local workers well aware of the pro-union campaign’s warnings about the threat to the shipyards in the event of a yes vote. Most workers were opposed independence, with locals raising concerns about sterling, taxes and jobs.

