Not investing enough in aircraft and support vessels to protect
the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers was ‘foolhardy’,
Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, said today.
Unite, which has thousands of members employed in the UK’s
defence industries, was commenting on a damning report by the
Commons Public Accounts Committee which warned that the Ministry
of Defence’s (MoD) ‘failure to fund several key supporting
capabilities will restrict how it can use the carriers for many
years’.
Unite national officer for aerospace and shipbuilding Rhys
McCarthy said: “The cross-party report by MPs paints a bleak
picture of how the Ministry of Defence has conducted its
procurement policy over many years to the detriment of UK defence
industry jobs.
“It is a wake-up call for defence secretary .
“Spending the money on the aircraft carriers and then not putting
in the proper protection, such as the radar system and the delay
with no guarantee that fleet solid support ships are to be
designed, built and maintained in the UK, is foolhardy.
“British technology, skills and jobs are at risk because of
flawed ministerial policy and the UK government should use the
upcoming defence spending review to bring forward shovel ready
projects that not only defend the nation, but also the wider
economy.
“Boris Johnson’s so-called Build Back Better agenda also needs to
include a more coherent understanding of the importance of the
UK’s defence industry, especially in relation to regional policy.
“We need a procurement policy that fully acknowledges the role
that these world-class UK companies and their tens of thousands
of employees can play in a post-pandemic global economy.”
