By Aileen Robertson

ROSYTH DOCKYARD could be kept waiting even longer for work to start on the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers, as a result of the government’s defence budget crisis—triggering lay-off fears.

The final assembly of the two Queen Elizabeth class warships is expected to be completed at the Fife yard, providing a lifeline for the 1200 people employed there.

According to the government’s timetable, the first ship will enter service in 2014 the second in 2016 but the official contracts have yet to be signed.

Yesterday those dates were plunged into uncertainty when the House of Commons defence committee revealed that equipment programmes would have to be sacrificed in order to stave off a funding crisis.

The committee published a report stating that major projects may be delayed, face cuts or axed altogether.

In-service dates for the ships have already been pushed back. The initial date for the first ship was 2012.

Despite reassurances the aircraft carrier project will go ahead, Dunfermline and West Fife MP Willie Rennie, who is on the defence committee, was certain the work at Rosyth would be behind schedule.

He said, “The government has mismanaged the defence budget and that’s why we’re in this position. Now the government has to make a decision and it’s no easy decision.

“I think the effect on the aircraft carriers is real and anyone who tries to play that down is fooling themselves.

“I don’t think it is going to be cancelled, it’s too far down the track for that, but I think it will be delayed and that delay will have a significant effect on the dockyard.”

The Ministry of Defence could not give a date for when the final carrier contracts would be signed.

Work on the carriers is expected to secure the long-term future of the yard and Babcock employees at Rosyth have been working on refitting projects including a £17 million contract to refit HMS Sutherland.

Such projects have allayed fears of more redundancies at the yard but Mr Rennie said skilled workers could be laid-off if Rosyth had to wait any longer for work on the carriers to start.

“At Rosyth they have already recruited people from eastern Europe. They are all good people being taken on but it shows the gap in skills that they can’t get local people to fill the jobs,” he said.

“If they lay-off more people, things are only going to get worse because if they lose people, it’s difficult to get them back.”

Last month, Defence Secretary Des Browne raised hopes of an imminent announcement about the carriers when he witnessed the signing of a contract between Babcock Marine and contractor Edmund Nuttall to modify Rosyth in readiness for the work.

About £35 million is being invested in the dockyard’s infrastructure, including the installation of the biggest crane in the UK.

“Things that have to be done are getting done but the fact the big contract has still not been signed is where the worry is,” Mr Rennie said.

The Ministry of Defence is examining the implications for its equipment programme following a spending review last year.

Projects left vulnerable by the cuts include the navy’s new fleet of support tankers and a replacement for the RAF’s Lynx helicopter.

The defence committee urged the MoD to consider whether the time had come to “cut its losses” and abandon the updated Nimrod MRA4 maritime reconnaissance aircraft, which was now running eight years behind schedule and almost £800 million over budget.

The Nimrod MRA4 was one of three major projects, along with the Astute submarine and the Type 45 destroyer, which had accumulated delays totalling almost 14 years and cost overruns of £2.9 billion.

Defence committee chairman James Arbuthnot said, “For too long the MoD has had an unaffordable equipment programme and needs to confront the problem rather than giving the usual response of salami-slicing and moving programmes to the right.

“A realistic equipment programme will give confidence to our armed forces that the programmes that remain will be delivered in the numbers and to the timescale required and will also allow industry to make informed investment decisions.”

He expressed disappointment that once completed, the aircraft carriers would have to operate with ageing Harrier GR9s until until new joint strike fighter aircraft are delivered around 2018.

A spokesman for the MoD said, “We are investing some £14 billion over the next 10-15 years in new and far more capable ships, such as the new aircraft carriers, Type 45 destroyers, and Astute class submarines. They will be followed by a new class of fleet escorts as well as submarines to provide the future deterrent capability.”

He said the MoD was still working towards the in-service dates of 2014 and 2016 for the carriers.

He added, “We will sign the manufacture contract for the aircraft carriers when we have achieved the best alignment of expenditure, work schedule and commercial arrangements.”