The GMB Union says the UK’s new £1.5billion fleet of support ships must be built in this country after the Defence Secretary referred to them as “warships”.
The union, which has been campaigning for the work to be given to British shipyards, said defining the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships as military means they must, under strict security rules, be built on these shores.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Commons on Monday, September 2020, that: “I intend to announce the procurement timetable for these warships in due course, after market testing has completed.”
The GMB said this means the Government sees the vessels are of military significance and therefore they can not be built overseas.
The stores-carrying Solid Support ships come under the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and as such it has been argued that they don’t have to be built in the UK, unlike warships, and could be constructed at a lower cost overseas as they would be bound by normal EU rules on competitive tendering.
In 2018 it was revealed that Plymouth’s Babcock International Group Plc, which runs Devonport Dockyard, was in the running to construct them, but with 11 other firms, including from Spain, Japan and South Korea.
It has also been mooted that Devon’s newly reopened Appledore Shipyard could be ideal for the work.
Earlier in September Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey made another request that ministers award the contract to a British consortium.
Now the GMB, the shipbuilding union, said ministers have effectively admitted the FSS vessels are warships so there is no excuse not to build them in the UK.
GMB pointed out that in 2019 France announced its decision to build four similar logistics ships in France with no international tender.
GMB has long campaigned for the FSS contract to be given to UK shipyards – producing a ground-breaking report highlighting the estimated 6,700 jobs created or secured if the orders were kept in the UK.
Ross Murdoch, GMB national officer and Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU) chair, said: "It looks like the Government has finally acknowledged what GMB has always said - these are warships. There is no reason to now hide behind any treaty - they must be built in UK."
