National Shipbuilding Strategy

Lord Rogan Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

As always, the points that my noble friend raises on these matters are incredibly important. He will know, from his vast experience and the work he does, that we must have cultural change to rebuild the British shipbuilding industry and re-establish the sovereign capability. He will know from the region he represented with distinction for many years in Parliament, and now as a Member of this House still living in that area, the importance of the north-east for shipbuilding. We must have a situation in which buying British is first choice and our shipyards are first preference for the building of our ships, including for our Navy. My noble friend also makes the point that we need other departments to consider that as fully as they can.

[Lord Rogan (UUP)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware of the central role that Harland & Wolff is intended to play in delivering the national shipping strategy, supported by significant investment from Navantia UK, which will create many hundreds of new highly skilled, well-paid jobs in Belfast. What support if any can His Majesty’s Government provide to ensure that the Northern Ireland skills base is ready to supply enough properly qualified workers to fill these vital roles?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

The noble Lord will know as well as I do that if you went to Belfast a few years ago, as I did many times, you saw a derelict shipyard with nothing there. Now, you see investment going into Harland & Wolff and orders being placed there for the building of ships. It is a great credit to the people of Northern Ireland and the people of Belfast that this is happening. The Government are investing in shipbuilding.

On skills, which the noble Lord mentioned, he will know that Northern Ireland was given a growth deal, which can be used for skills. He will also know that just a couple of days ago, Queen’s University Belfast became part of the Defence Universities Alliance, which will also help with that. The blunt reality is that we need to invest money in our shipyards across the UK. We are doing that in Belfast, as well as other areas in the country.