MP 'really worried' for Rosyth Dockyard carriers work
A Fife MP has described as "worrying" reports that the Ministry of Defence is considering scrapping both of its new aircraft carriers.
- By Lars Niven
- Published in the Courier : 21.08.10
- Published online : 21.08.10 @ 02.47pm
Thomas Docherty said the decision would be devastating for Rosyth Dockyard, where work has already begun on one of the warships.
It was thought one of them might be axed as part of a review of the way the country's armed forces are funded, but not both.
Hundreds of jobs at Rosyth and thousands more at shipyards around the UK are dependent on the £5 billion supercarriers project.
The Fife yard would be particularly badly hit, as HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are due to be refitted there over the next 30 years.
Mr Docherty, the Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, said an MoD official had apparently briefed journalists that both ships could go.
One story, filed by the Reuters news agency, quoted a senior source who confirmed the drastic step was being considered to cut costs. The unnamed official is also said to have indicated that there are no plans to scale back Britain's Trident nuclear missile deterrent and the RAF's ageing fleet of 106 Tornado fighter planes will be axed by 2020, five years before they are due to leave service.
"We could have one, two or no new aircraft carriers...all options are on the table," the source is quoted as saying. "That does not mean we are leaning towards one particular option, but none should be considered as too radical."
News that Trident might not be affected by the strategic defence review (SDR) is bound to prove controversial.
Just last month the Treasury told the MoD it would have to fund the £20 billion project to replace Trident itself. Until now it has been centrally funded.
The MoD is facing a £37 billion shortfall over the next 10 years and some analysts have suggested it will have to cut up to 20% from its budget by 2015.
Mr Docherty told The Courier he was uneasy at the reports starting to emerge from London.
"It is really worrying news," he said. "This is the first time anybody in the Ministry of Defence has seriously suggested that both carriers could be under threat."
Work on the carriers was finally given the go-ahead in 2008 after the plans spent years on the drawing board.
At 65,000 tonnes each, they are the largest warships ever ordered by the navy. The vessels are so big the plan is to build them at yards around the UK and ship the pieces to Rosyth for final construction.
The first section has already arrived on the Forth.
Mr Docherty said, "I have actually stood on a piece of the deck of the HMS Queen Elizabeth. It would be absolutely absurd to cancel it."
The Queen Elizabeth is due to enter service in 2016, two years behind schedule, while the Prince of Wales is scheduled for completion in 2018.
01.41pm - 22.08.2010 Sean - Leith, Scotland Report This
The massive costs of replacing Trident nuclear weapons - £97 billion across the lifetime of the programme - are so huge that they will suck up much of the money available for conventional forces.<br /> Properly equipped service personnel are more important for our defence than nuclear weapons.
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