“No warships would have been built on the Clyde, because the United Kingdom Government would not have chosen to build them there.”

The Clyde is expected to work on 5 Offshore Patrol vessels, 8 Type 26 Frigates and “at least” 5 Type 31 Frigates, an increase over what was previously promised.

The issue of UK naval contracts on the Clyde had become controversial after the 2014 Independence Referendum and even more so recently when several groups indicated that the work would not go to an independent country.

The full statement, confirming what many had already known, was made by the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology with responsibility for Defence procurement and Defence exports in response to a question from Brendan O’Hara, MP for Argyll and Bute, regarding the Type 26 frigates.

“What I can confirm to the hon. Gentleman is that, had the independence vote gone the way that he and his colleagues would have liked, no warships would have been built on the Clyde, because the United Kingdom Government would not have chosen to build them there; we made that very clear.

As it is, as I have just confirmed to the House, we will be proceeding with the construction of eight complex Type 26 warships on the Clyde as and when the programme is ready.”

A MoD spokesperson said:

“The Government is committed to building ships on the Clyde and to the Type 26 programme. Over the next decade, we will spend around £8 billion on Royal Navy warships.

As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, we will build two new [five in total] Offshore Patrol Vessels on the Clyde, maintaining Scottish shipbuilding capability ahead of the start of the Type 26 build.

We will also consult with Industry and Trade Unions as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, which will set the UK shipbuilding industry on a sustainable footing for the future.”

Ahead of the announcement, the SNP and others had said that any reduction in the number of Type 26 frigates being built on the Clyde would be a “betrayal” of the workforce, with some MP’s even going so far as to claim “promises were broken”.

A significant amount of MP’s from the Conservative and Labour parties also posted now deleted tweets regarding the number of frigates to be ordered.

The original plan for the Type 26 had been 8 anti-submarine warfare variants and five general purpose variants, this remains largely unchanged except for the specification and design of the later five vessels, which has been reduced to make them more affordable.

The Prime Minister at the time of the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2015, David Cameron, told the House of Commons:

“There will be eight of the Type 26s and at least another five of the new type of frigate [The Type 31], probably more, and they can be built in Scotland if the conditions are right.

The only way these ships wouldn’t be built in Scotland is if Scotland was independent and didn’t have the national resources of the Royal Navy.”

Then Prime Minister Cameron also told the Commons that the new class of frigates, now referred to as the Type 31, would be “more affordable than the Type 26 which will “allow us to buy more of them for the Royal Navy so that by the 2030’s we can further increase the total number of Royal Navy frigates and destroyers.”

In November, after confirming that the Type 26 Frigate would be built on the Clyde, Michael Fallon also indicated that the Type 31 Frigate will be assembled there too.

It’s speculated that the build plan for the Type 31 Frigate will follow a similar pattern to that of the Queen Elizabeth carriers and early Type 45 Destroyers in that blocks will be built in yards around the UK and assembled on the Clyde.

Modern shipbuilding makes considerable use of prefabricated sections. Entire multi-deck segments of the hull may be built elsewhere around the UK, transported to the building dock or slipway, then lifted into place. This is known as “block construction”. Yards pre-install equipment, pipes, electrical cables and any other components within the blocks, to minimise the effort needed to assemble or install components deep within the hull once it is welded together.

Ian King, chief executive of BAE, had indicated in a letter submitted to the Scottish Affairs Committee in 2014 that shipyards on the Clyde would likely have to close if Scotland voted for independence.

The future of the yards at Govan and Scotstoun is directly tied into the Type 26 frigates and Mr King has said BAE would build the ships at a location compatible with the contract awarding process of the Ministry of Defence.

“In the event of a Yes vote, and as we have made clear, we would be required to discuss the future of the Type 26 programme with our customer, the MoD.

It would be for the MoD to determine how the vote affects the final decisions they have yet to make on the programme, including the future location of the build of the ships.

We would take our customer’s lead in these circumstances. We cannot determine this outcome in advance, or without the direction of the MoD.”

Mr Davidson added:

This shows clearly that, as we have previously stated, the only guarantee for the future of shipbuilding on the Clyde is for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom.”

Michael Fallon told BBC Radio Scotland:

“Nobody is shortchanging the Clyde. This is a huge moment for the Clyde; we’re confirming we’re going ahead with the steel cut next summer, earlier than expected. The first eight will be the Type 26 combat ships.

After that, we will be building a lighter frigate and we will end up with a fleet that is larger than the fleet at the moment.”

Other than procurement activity undertaken during the World Wars, the UK has not had a complex warship built outside of the UK since the start of the 20th century at least.

The crucial importance of Royal Navy shipbuilding contracts to the Scottish economy had earlier “been laid bare” in a report commissioned by GMB Scotland.

An economic analysis of the Scottish defence sector by the Fraser of Allander Institute revealed that 5,943 jobs and £162.7 million in wages are supported by BAE’s yards on the Upper Clyde; and 3,870 jobs and £105.9 million in wages are supported by the Rosyth dockyard in Fife.

The report also presents a challenge for the Scottish Government to demonstrate how they would sustain these jobs and wages in the absence of MoD contracts in a future independent Scotland.

The MoD has a 15-year Terms of Business Agreement with BAE Systems MNS, giving the company certainty about the UK Government’s commitment to a minimum level of capacity in the areas of warship design and build work, including the Type 26 as mentioned above, and elements of support covering complex warships.

The MoD has a similar 15-year agreement with Babcock Marine in respect of support work for surface warships and submarines.

George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison

48 COMMENTS

    • UK Defence Journal – would be nice in ideal world to have both shipyards around but if Scotland goes Independent then they either rely on EU Naval force or have their own small Naval force but it does not mean that they rely on Bae Systems building their ships, could buy a ship shell from Abroad (Korea) or buy 2nd hand and then retro fit with necessary electronics and weapon systems.

      • Rather ridiculous to say you wanted the UK to break up, I don’t the snp and the nationalists just blame it all on everyone in the UK but all the snp want is power. I prefer a whole union, we are one island at the end of the day and we are all native to it.

    • UK Defence Journal Well that and the higher defence spending, lower taxes and more liberal country we’d live in if we didn’t have Scotland. Yeah! You’re learning.

    • The SNP already knew it as well, they just weren’t admitting it to the voters and in some cases even to themselves during the referendum campaign.

  1. The government said on numerous occasions that the UK does not build warships in ‘foreign countries’ which Scotland would have become should we have voted YES… This is no surprise at all.. However what the government need to do is get these ships built as soon as possible!

    • True Governments / situations change, e.g., National debt increasing and may end up buying Ship shells from overseas, korea, usa, etc and then retro fitting them in the uk with electronics and weapon systems ?

    • David L Thomas doubt it, we will buy RFA ships from abroad, but it has been long term UK government policy that we don’t build sensitive warships and the tech within, abroad.

    • Strategy game who they are getting the RFA’S built in Korea also how they approached India to see if they wanted to be part of the consortium! Nope you are being told a porkies by the sheep shagger! Judging by the show re the EU and the MSN you are waking to that fact!

  2. £8bn on ships for the RN over the next ten years hardly seems enough out of a total equipment budget of £178bn.

    This needs to be 4 times the amount at least. Even then it is less than 20% of the overall budget… simply not good enough I am afraid. This response demonstrates the lack of strategic planning that will no doubt give us a fleet of OPV’s.

  3. The Scots may vote out next time in a few years time which will be bad news for the UK in general. Not sure whether Scotland would rely on European Naval force (France, ) as protection or have their own small naval force ?

  4. Dunno why they need to admit it now… We knew this before the IndyRef. Isn’t it part of UK law that warships cannot be built in a foreign country (which Scotland would have become).

  5. Scotland voted NO in Sept 2014. Where are the orders 18 months later? Yet another useless unionist promise?

  6. I don’t really understand the point in this statement, it was hardly a secret.

    We build ships in Scotland, not because it is cheaper to do so, but becasue its part of our country. If Scotland goes indepedndent, they are no longer part of the UK and so either we go for the cheapest country to build it (somewhere in Asia i suspect) or we build in our country (england/wales/NI), in either case that wouldn’t involve Scotland.

    If they ever go independent, they have to take the full consequences of that.

    In the meantime, I am glad they are still with us.

  7. Product Design UK security ..British Steel Dockyard jobs! Build giant rigs/tanker/fleet siphon deep water 50M x 500 x 5inch hose/mesh fill empty turbine 24/7 clean power electricity for Great Britain.

  8. I expect, had Scotland voted for independence, there would have been an awful lot of Glaswegian shipyard workers heading south to Portsmouth.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here