John Swinney has visited Babcock’s Rosyth yard to see first hand how work on the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates is progressing and to underline the importance of naval shipbuilding to Scotland’s economy.
During the visit, the First Minister toured the Venturer Building, where five Inspiration-class frigates are taking shape for the Royal Navy. The programme is one of the centrepieces of the UK’s National Shipbuilding Strategy and is intended to replace the ageing Type 23 general purpose fleet while sustaining a steady drumbeat of warship construction.
Babcock says it supports more than 10,500 jobs across the UK and contributes over £500 million annually to Scotland’s GDP. At Rosyth, the Type 31 programme has driven investment in modernised facilities and advanced manufacturing processes, alongside apprenticeships and specialist engineering roles that feed into the wider defence supply chain.
Rosyth’s work on Type 31 sits alongside construction of the Type 26 anti-submarine frigates on the Clyde, together anchoring Scotland’s role in delivering the future surface fleet.
For Rosyth, the visit was an opportunity to showcase both the scale of the build programme and the long term industrial capability being developed on the Forth, positioning the yard as a key player in UK and NATO maritime manufacturing for decades to come.
And what support has the SNP given to development of ship building by Scottish yards. Answers on the back of a fag packet please.
It is embarrassing having the dreary Swinney visit the yard at all; the SNP behaviour on defence is appalling on a broad front.
HMS Active is progressing in the background.