30th July 2010About 13,000 jobs could be lost if the Trident nuclear deterrent is delayed because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has to bear the full £20bn of renewal costs.
Unite, the largest union in the country, warned today (Friday, 30 July) that not only would these jobs be lost, but Britain’s capability to build nuclear-powered submarines could be lost forever.
And if the Mod has to stump up the full-cost of building the submarines - traditionally borne by the Treasury - thousands more defence jobs could go as other conventional programmes are slashed to pay for Trident, such as the two new aircraft carriers promised.
Unite said the 13,000 jobs that could be under threat are at Barrow (where the submarines are built), Faslane (where they are based), Derby (where the nuclear reactors are built) and the Devonport dockyard, Plymouth (where the subs are refitted and repaired).
Bernie Hamilton, Unite’s National Officer, Aerospace & Shipbuilding, said: ‘Up to 13,000 jobs could be at risk if Trident is delayed and any lengthy delay will mean that Britain is in danger of losing the skills and ability to build such submarines.’
‘The picture gets worse if Osborne continues to insist that the MoD, already facing cuts of 10-20% as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, has to slash conventional weapons’ programmes to pay for Trident.’
‘We could then be talking about losing thousands more jobs than the initial 13,000 – that figure will be dwarfed as the axe falls,’
Unite is also concerned about the future of its15,000 industrial members working for the MoD, such as tank fitters and aircraft refuelers.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd