{"id":15795,"date":"2018-07-25T15:41:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T14:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15795"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:35","slug":"15795-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15795","title":{"rendered":"‘In tatters’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Ministry of Defence\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to freeze a competition to build the new Type 31e frigates despite detailed submissions from consortiums of UK shipyards that are backed by both Babcock and BAE Systems leaves the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding strategy in tatters, Unite said today (July 25).<\/p>\n

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Unite, which is the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union representing defence workers, went on to warn that the decision risks hollowing out the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding capability and betraying manufacturing communities across the UK.<\/p>\n

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Unite will be seeking urgent meetings with the Ministry of Defence to demand answers on the chaos now surrounding the project, in addition to meetings with the firms and suppliers engaged in the bid to build the new ships.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to answer some urgent and serious questions about why ministers have frozen the Type 31e frigate programme,” said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis decision is a slap in the face to both the BAE Systems and the Babcock led consortiums of UK shipyards which were bidding for the frigate contract and has the potential to hollow out the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding capability,” he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe scheduling of the Type 31e frigate build ensured that skills and jobs on the carrier programme would be utilised ahead of other shipbuilding projects coming on line. This freeze now risks highly skilled workers leaving the industry and decent jobs being lost.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe chaos surrounding the Type 31e frigate also has severe ramifications, not just for shipbuilding communities, but for tens of thousands of workers across the UK in the supply chain in areas such as steel and engineering.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis devastating news follows the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to guarantee that the navy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three new Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships will be built in UK shipyards, despite a consortium being formed under the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Team Albion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 banner. It leaves its shipbuilding and wider industrial strategy in tatters,” Turner added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to urgently rethink its decision to freeze the Type 31e frigate programme and guarantee that the navy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new support ships are built in the UK using UK steel.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnything less will be viewed as a snub and a betrayal by workers and their families in shipbuilding and manufacturing communities across the UK.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ministry of Defence\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to freeze a competition to build the new Type 31e frigates despite detailed submissions from consortiums of UK shipyards that are backed by both Babcock and BAE Systems leaves the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding strategy in tatters, Unite said today (July 25).   Unite, which is the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest union representing defence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[514],"wps_subtitle":"UK shipbuilding at risk as ministers freeze frigate programme","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15795"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26024,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15795\/revisions\/26024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}