Plans to establish a specialist submarine welding facility on the banks of the Clyde have collapsed after Scottish Enterprise, an economic development agency overseen by the Scottish Government, withdrew a critical £2.5 million grant, according to a report from The Times.
The move has provoked sharp criticism from defence industry leaders and politicians across the political spectrum, who say the decision jeopardises skilled job creation and undermines national security.
The £11 million investment—led by Rolls-Royce—would have delivered a cutting-edge welding centre to support the construction and maintenance of Royal Navy submarines. The project had been in development for years and was expected to play a key role in reducing industry costs, improving carbon efficiency, and creating high-value jobs in Scotland’s defence manufacturing sector. However, due to a Scottish Government policy barring public funding for “munitions,” the project was deemed ineligible, despite Rolls-Royce clarifying that its nuclear propulsion systems are not used for delivering warheads.
According to The Times, Steve Carlier, president of submarines at Rolls-Royce, warned that without the public funding, “the project cannot continue, and the facility will not be built and resourced in Scotland.” He added that the company had previously understood there was an agreement in place with Scottish Enterprise for the construction support. The Scottish Government’s definition of “munitions,” Carlier noted, now appears to include nuclear-powered submarines altogether, even when the supported activities do not involve weapon systems.
Critics have labelled the decision “student politics,” accusing the SNP of allowing ideology to obstruct economic development. Scottish Conservative MP Andrew Bowie said, “When SNP student politics gets in the way of our national security, it’s the people of Scotland who suffer.” Graeme Downie, Scottish Labour MP for Dunfermline & Dollar, added: “The SNP are actively hostile to the creation of skilled jobs in our defence industry… Their out-of-date, ill-informed dogma is costing Scots real opportunities.”
The blocked funding comes at a time when Scotland’s strategic importance to the UK’s submarine fleet is growing. The Faslane naval base is home to the Royal Navy’s continuous at-sea deterrent, and recent shipbuilding projects, including HMS Venturer, have showcased Scotland’s defence industrial potential. This setback risks not only derailing a vital industrial capability but also sending a negative signal to other defence investors weighing commitments in Scotland.
Rolls-Royce has insisted that its propulsion technology is critical to national defence and does not breach munitions policies. The facility, the company said, would have trained the next generation of engineers and welders for vital submarine programmes, including the UK’s Dreadnought-class nuclear deterrent.
The collapse of the deal will now force the company to consider relocating the equipment—and the jobs—elsewhere in the UK.
Should have called it a “ferry” welding facility. The SNP would have given five times the amount that’s needed.
They won’t provide funding for help develop skills on nuclear propulsion but are more happy to build frigates. Ok? Maybe defence companies should take note.
Seems this welding facility should be where the submarines are built- eg in England at Barrow.
Mr Bell They already know how to weld at Barrow but it is not and cannot be a refit site, once they leave they never come back and have to be refitted and maintained elsewhere (hence Faslane and Plymouth). The simple reason is the access to it via the Walney Channel is permanently moving and silting up, which is why the initial voyage out is one way and requires lots of dredging, money and timing.
By nixing the welding course the SNP are having yet another go at Faslane. Never mind they can just run the course elsewhere and send the trainees there ! Mouth, Shooting, in, SNP, on, the, keep, themselves, foot, the.
Pick a dozen site across the UK including Barrow and start some specialist centres there. Not just welding, not just submarines but for all types of skills which are or will be in demand. The Scots have skills but if the are not willing to invest in them it is inevitable that they will ultimately move elsewhere. They are perhaps shooting themselves in the foot whilst playing political games.
Is there actually any comment from the Scottish government on this, seems more like an oversight than party policy.
I’m all for bashing the SNP just seems like reporters should ask for comment.
From the original Times story:
“A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position is that it does not support the manufacture of munitions.
“The Scottish Government recognises the role of the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors in the Scottish economy and regularly engages with a range of companies, alongside ADS Scotland as the industry body.””
So go figure, they are saying they don’t support an arms industry but they do support an arms industry. How building a college building to support a course at the University of Strathclyde to train welding skills for nuclear reactors (i.e. aluminium welding) is classed as munitions, no one except the SNP knows.
“A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position is that it does not support the manufacture of munitions.
So how they do enforce their laws without munitions? Because SNP being anti libertarian and socialist adjacent they have a lots of laws, so they have a lot more of motives for violence.
If they don’t want defence work in Scotland then move the shipbuilding back to England.
Simple solution is to actually do what all UK Governments have ducked doing for decades, reform the Barnett Formula or make it conditional on complying 100% with U.K Industrial, Defence and Security policy.
As for this bit of utter stupidity let U.K Treasury fund it directly but dock the £2.5million from the next Block Settlement plus interest.
As Plymouth is going to be the major refit and Maintenance centre for the SSNs it could go there.. the southern shipping industry gets very little love
SNP (and honestly Holyrood in general) being a clown show as per usual.
More red meat stuff George… Did you ask SE for some context as to why they didn’t approve the grant or did that not fit in with your usual narrative? Nice you gave Labour and the Tories the opportunity to get the boot in as well. Did you ask for any other comments from anywhere else or did that also not fit in work your usual narrative? Usual sloppy stuff.
The SNP responded to the original Times article, they claimed to support defence and space industry in Scotland but agreed with the decision that constructing a college building at the University of Strathclyde to train students in welding was munitions production.
More political snp baad propaganda. Does anyone on here really believe that Rolls Royce can’t afford an extra £2.5 million? Yes, scotgov might have withdrew the offer of funding but it’s in keeping with their anti nuclear policy. Job losses? None. Because you can’t lose what you don’t have.
Neither the government body that refused the grant for the University of Strathclyde building or the SNP spokesman referenced nuclear. They said it was because this was training students in the skills that would be necessary to produce munitions and the Governments policy was to ban all funding for the munitions industry. Rolls Royce will go where the funding is, if the Scottish government wont support contributing £2.5m towards the £11m cost of building a college building at the University of Strathclyde and running the University course in welding (with the company paying the rest) then I am sure the company will find a regional government that is willing to invest in student education, training the specialist skill of welding aluminium and high grade steel pipes and the highly paid jobs that results in.
SNP = Communists
Marxists, more correct. You can bet SNP would be all for weapons if they could be the dominant party in British Islands Since they are not, they sabotage.
Communists are prepared to defend their country. This lot are far worse, they are half-wits.
Communists defended Nazis by sabotaging Allied war efforts in WW2 – including British armament factories- until Soviet Union was attacked.
In that case, in SNP terms, what are they doing building british warships on the Clyde/Glasgow & at Rosyth? Would they be happy to become a colony of Russia?
They are happy with anyone that is anti West.
Well when putin lands in Scotland just build that old wall a bit higher 😁
Well RR will have to invest in England then? Maybe in the North East or North west to bring back some heavy engineering?
Specialist submarine welding courses in Scotland? Where are submarines built and periodically reffitted in the UK I wonder? Strange that a politician talks about dogma, yet fails to reailes their own ‘dogmatic’ approach to many policy issues. So only Conservative and Labour are allowed to pursue ‘dogma’ then? We know surface warships don’t submerge unless in dire trouble but wonder about the correlation between surface and submarine. Some seriously blinkered and unthinking out of context comments on here! All this fuss over paltry small change, which has to come out of somebody’s budget.
They are built in Barrow then maintained and refitted in Plymouth and on the Clyde. The specialist skills this centre will teach for RR aren’t hull welding though, its pipe welding for the reactors steam plant.
Aware of the locations, but better to train where the skills are mainly used! All aspects of defence and its funding is still a reserved matter though, and they decide how much of our taxes are returned to Scottish Government. So why should they put up funds without a commensurate uplift from Treasury?