ALL too often Scotland is on the receiving end of bleak industrial news. The announcement yesterday, then, by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon that the construction of eight Type 26 frigates will begin on the Clyde next summer is to be welcomed. It will come as a great relief to the Clyde workforce.
The issue of the contract has for some time been something of a political football. The vessels were, of course, promised by David Cameron during the independence referendum and were widely seen as an inducement to encourage Scots to vote No. The construction programme was later scaled back from 13 to eight vessels and, when junior defence minister Harriet Baldwin was asked for a start date in July, she admitted: “We do not know yet.”
The uncertainty appears to have been laid to rest with Sir Michael’s announcement that the summer of 2017 will be the date when the first steel will be cut. Most welcome as the news is, it is worth bearing in mind how the contract shapes up alongside the Government’s initial promises. As GMB Union regional secretary Gary Smith said yesterday, the workforce was originally told that there was going to be a frigate factory built on the Clyde allowing ships to be delivered more efficiently and with the potential capacity to export vessels.
Indeed, some point to the fact that Sir Michael’s pledge yesterday only came after workers exposed the fact that the Government planned to move some of the work to England. As SNP defence spokesman Brendan O’Hara said in response to the news, perhaps UK ministers should not be “too self-congratulatory”, having only fulfilled “the promise they made last year, the one that replaced the promise they broke the year before”.
The timing of the MoD’s decision on the frigate contract also comes at a moment when there are pressing questions about the future of military bases in Scotland, notably Fort George and Kinloss Barracks.
Answers from the MoD, however, are slow in coming, much as they were for a protracted period during negotiations about the frigate contract. Both bases are reportedly being considered for closure in the latest round of military cuts and there are concerns that up to 1,600 jobs could be lost.
Scottish ministers, meanwhile, insist that the MoD has failed to provide basic information on future plans for the bases. Barely three years after the last Army Basing Plan, which was billed as offering stability and certainty, it appears instead that the MoD is conducting its biggest programme of closures and Fort George and Kinloss Barracks could well be in its sights
Just as the MoD initially promised one thing but in the end delivered something else in the shape of the frigate contract, so it appears to be doing much the same with military bases in Scotland.
These decisions must be seen against the backdrop of the political climate and possibility of another independence referendum. The latest news for Clyde shipbuilders is indeed welcome. The MoD, however, needs to act with greater transparency and put its cards on the table when Scotland’s economic and employment interests are at stake.
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