Shipbuilding on the Clyde

Gavin Newlands Excerpts
Monday 25th April 2016

(8 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Philip Dunne Portrait Mr Dunne
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All I can say to the hon. Gentleman and to the workforce on the Clyde is that we have, through the SDSR and again today, made a commitment to build eight Type 26s on the Clyde. That will provide work for the highly skilled workforce on the Clyde for many years.

Gavin Newlands Portrait Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)
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There is a growing sense of anger and frustration on the Clyde, and many of those hard-working and highly skilled workers are starting to feel as though they have been used as constitutional pawns. What does the Minister say in response to the secretary of GMB Scotland, who said that the UK Government’s recent actions in the Clyde are

“a total betrayal of the upper Clyde workforce”?

Philip Dunne Portrait Mr Dunne
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I find it hard to characterise a commitment to build eight complex warships on the Clyde as a betrayal. That is what we did in the SDSR and it has not changed.