UK shipbuilding: holding the Government to account
- Sarah Owen
- Jan 23, 2018
- 1 min read
Over the last six months there has been considerable work in Parliament on defence and shipbuilding.
As the Conservative Government delay, dither and drift on making decisions on vital defence investment - the industry, workers and communities are left without any certainty over their future. It means opposition MPs - supported by the GMB political department - have been the voice within Parliament in support of UK shipbuilding.
Our GMB MPs have been kept fully briefed and have made significant contributions to defence debates and Plymouth MP Luke Pollard, secured a Westminster Hall Debate in support of shipbuilding.
In these debates, the Government were held to account and the case clearly made that building ships abroad and not in UK shipyards was bad for workers, UK defence and security and more expensive in the long run.
The issue is incredibly important to our members directly involved in the shipbuilding industry but also in the wider supply chain, especially steel. The main argument from our point of view is that the maintenance and building of military vessels, such as the Type 31 & 26 Frigates, RFAs and aircraft carriers, should be built here in the UK and we will continue to work with politicians and members to ensure this happens.
GMB is proud of our manufacturing members, proud of our heritage and ambitious for the future of manufacturing in the UK. For more on our campaign for UK manufacturing, please visit www.making-it.org.uk
Image credit: hisgett via Flickr
