rising this cross party support to keep the government's feet to the ship building fire over the next couple of weeks we'll be talking to the people who actually run yards across the british isles and to some of the workers who built the ships i now send directly it's british thing going both me to a new sunrise or still sliding towards an inevitable sunset but first salix. your messages and your e-mails. but first stop is from chris says they interview of the m.p. from island interesting insight and perspective i wouldn't put it out if i'd taken a second to consider the impact an island very interesting chris and joe got he said did i see dolly doing with tory past tense when he was speaking to the professor on screen last week and this is what jill is talking about. and take a look at this. sorry disappoint you joe i can't speak for the tory politicians but i just had a sore fit myself then from shirley jean seaton who says the programme covered

exhaustively then quite well problem a bright and frictionless trading cross border i await boris proposing oh monitoring of course board of trade will be done from space by satellite container ship movement and pilots and then messages from john sco and c.n.n. bob the only sensible solution as a united ireland and then what i would go for as a united independent ireland and then dependent scotland and then dependent wheels along with england oh members of the european union and finally from linfen listen who says professor jonathan tong says it all scotland the northern ireland voted overwhelmingly to the mean and the u.k. government is completely disregarding this helmand of helmand it was a great phrase of course lead and that means on their heads be it. and no to the first of our series. support from the the future of british ship building. at the

time of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries over three quarters of world shipping was built in the united kingdom know the great names of shipping harnden will family and ferguson juggles of either disappear but a much diminished then the city was nationalized as british ship builders nineteen seventies but this failed to rest of the claim of the number of employees falling from eighty seven thousand to nine hundred seventy seven to me a five thousand and ten years and although it was not until two thousand and thirteen that the final near was put in that entity as cementing assets in employees have long since been dispersed to the private sector some great military ships are still being built most recently the two queen elizabeth class aircraft carriers but there's real concern that unless the government fully adopts of jorn particles report on shipbuilding strategy it will not be enough to keep the industry on its current skill never mind the nestles and visitors most of john

recently m.p.'s from across the political parties and across the shipyard constituencies put their concerns to the new ministerial team at the ministry of defense of britain is due to ship and many of the warships and sea trials in talk being built and those being planned a testament to our naval heritage and the up to date skills of a superb work force right across the u.k. i hope this debate today is straight to the new minister and his officials not that this plan is wrong per se but that we scrutiny we can make it more a cost more valuable to industry and swat on forces. principly there are two areas i want to highlights in asking for a vision is this documents one in the procurement of general fleet of delivery specimens especially the new solid fleet support ships and secondly to the configuration capabilities roles and realities of the proposed type thirty one a frigate the house will probably not need reminding that we had more than sixty frigates and destroyers at the time of the fall campaign and by the time that my

cohort came into the house of commons nine hundred ninety seven that number had come down to thirty five forget some destroyers. of hundred wolf at one stage this was the biggest employer of men not only and a honorable telescopes in se but also my constancy and some thirty five thousand workers at their peak in one thousand nine hundred eight hundred wilford with just the shots and a rained every four ten or fourteen years so that it continuously made it ships and built ships over a period of pain the last to leave the queen's animals to the forty million until point at the start of twenty or three so the twenty two thousand ton party with the second of two thousand was built for the ministry of defense hard and wealth are teaming up with other companies such as thomas and again on the other judgments or because to belfast and others to bed for a one point two five billion contract and i believe that not only and i not only

have the ability but also have the dry under the siren to deliver the past that they can be given remember in a place the national strategy when it was announced was and i'm going to be fair to you and i think in a moderate moment of remarks was a presentational dog's breakfast with the former secretary of state or of six occasions in the chamber claimed that there was a frigate faction the cloud. at the same time as he's on his feet in the chamber claiming there was a flag faction quite g.m.b. officials were taking scottish journalists around the proposed site for the frigate faction which is rebel in a rush so there is no factory and a quite an led to a presentational disaster for the government. can i join this week to order my support for those already spoken that the there is no need for the royal family excel or ships to great chance of us a competition and the reason that they will break out the shit applied for. us to

be nice to get some of us is because they believe it will be sent to the us that's at everton they going to be the case now marshaling is parliament to troops is even wardle the general secretary of the confederation of shipbuilding and engineering unions welcome to the alex island show you own property here you have assembled a pretty powerful cross party alliance you could be successful in holding the government to its commitments on this floor for us well i think your answer to that really is in the balance that the alliance that you refer to is really one based on a blindingly obvious argument which in turn flows from saddam parkas national shipbuilding strategy report which argues that military ships could and should people in the u.k. and that could be a platform for investment in the yards and open a whole world of opportunities i mean that's why everybody's standing behind is just absolutely clearly commonsense but the government says they're committed to the park of the port but there's a lot of concern that the order for support ships seems to be going out to

international competition well as always you know it's what's in the fine print the government says it's committed but we've got a situation where top twenty six we know will be built on the clyde type thirty one which is a light frigate is open for competition at the moment and there may be a foreign design in all of that there's a two alliances of yards in the u.k. that have bidding but it's not clear what the destination of that contract will be the big prize is the fleet solid support ships three vessels of forty five thousand tonnes each that's equivalent to the two aircraft carriers that we've built if we could build those in the u.k. that would make a fundamental difference to the future of the show that was fascinating because the only aircraft carriers a massive pieces of brilliant engineer to be your. saying these support ships that all this equipment to the two aircraft absolutely in turn into a niche a float their equivalent but they're also complex ships they will be entering into military war zones they'll be supplying the carries with with engines and spare parts for the f.

thirty five that are on board i mean ition as well as all sorts of other supplies each ship will have a specific job it will be unique one off design these are not like commercial ships that bill in south korea every day of the week these are really specialised vessels and the fundamental thing is there was ships they'll be armed they'll carry an ambulance helicopter carry parties marines that's not a commercial ship it's war ship so there's nothing to stop the government in terms of international law contracts from saying these are warships and should be built in new york it well we produced a report last week in parliament which shows clearly that france germany italy spain all eat you can trees build similar ships they all have the mystic shipyards and you know what surprise surprise they built their ships in their shipyards the rules didn't stop them the government quite easily could declare these warships i think is absolutely clearly the case and it's definitely defensible in e.u. i don't want to come it's been so timid about this but they seem determined to put me into international competition what's the connection between being

a floor what for the i'm breaking into the market for commercial ships worldwide well one thing leads to the i mean one hundred years ago this country the united kingdom built half of the world's ships and this proud ship building heritage right across these islands we lost that because we didn't invest in modern technology modern techniques and particularly the far east i would say because if we had a steady pipeline of military work stretching out ten twenty years then that gives companies the ability to invest with confidence for the future we could build world class yachts that would be able to compete compete in the in the commercial shipping market one thing leads to the other the moment we've got big. boost the top twenty six then it got to type thirty one and a gap so who knows what and the odds can't survive and you can't invest as a business owner so it's the drumbeat of military orders that creates the certainty that leads to investment in a world class facilities and what see the social and economic consequences of

having a garden to need skilled labor force in these communities well one thing that we're waiting to see the reality of his prosperity agenda which govern willing some secretary of state has built in this is a new set just wait for the fed the new sector's fight for defense as something he wants to see prosperity taken into account of in the way that the mit does its business no prosperity for me is simple if you build a ship in the u.k. then the workers pay tax they pay national insurance the company pays corporation tax and there's an immediate return to the treasury from employing people in in the u.k. that you wouldn't get if you built ships in south korea they would get that benefit but also you're able to recruit apprentices those people go out and buy houses and cars for ages there's a multiplier effect in the wider economy and let's not forget the ships could be built with british steel our steel industry struggling in the international market the moment we specified british steel for the ships built in the u.k. then that could make a massive difference not just in the shipbuilding communities but way beyond so in

water from the perspective of the confederation of shipbuilding and engineering unions shipbuilding for the u.k. sunrise or sunset and the street well i think the future of the industry is in the government's hands if they make the right decision classify fleet solid support ships as warships and guarantee a drumbeat of work then this will be the sunrays if they put them out to enter international competition and they're built abroad i'm sorry to say i think it's the sunset will see yards closing resized could be the first to go. it want to thank you for. the drumbeat. for your silence to the quick. for the love of. f.s.s. being built in this country thank you very much thank you thank you. for joining us off of the break we'll be talking to one of the members of parliament fighting for shipbuilding and his constituency.

for my guide to financial survival this is. a device used by professional scallywags to earn money. that's right. we're just getting more and more food than. you need to protect yourself and get in for kaiser. in some american cities the police of. people who walk on the streets of the united states who are at risk from the very people who are supposed to protect. our freedom. you can see something happening this is.

chasing the. trigger you never know better safe than sorry i don't know that someone else is going to. unfortunately around here we are. told from. true. welcome back we've had a bit of members of parliament across the political the shipbuilding unions about the government shipbuilding strategy this is. the same reply in the house of commons. it's a return to so john parker's original point it hinges on the strength of the partnership between governments and the sector it's about our collective ability not simply to improve productivity not simply to develop the product that the international market wants to buy but to continue to develop the skills and the talent to keep the industry on all cylinders. this was the question the prime

minister was confronted with a couple of weeks but by dunn family and west faith m p douglas chapman a prime minister you will be aware in my constituency we are pushing the finishing touches to our second aircraft the prince of wales as we near the end of that contract over four hundred people and recite yards in redundancy with many more job losses in. the prime minister visit than film and most faithful to explain to their side what forced the peace government intends to award a one billion per and ship building contract with these islands when we have the skills of the talent and the infrastructure to deliver a great hero moment or so. many. years. and i say the attention that what we are doing through our national shipbuilding strategy is focusing on giving the wrong neighbor the ships it needs while increasing economic growth across the country and investing in a more skilled workforce so we are encouraging a more competitive industry in shipbuilding and growing jobs across the country i

think he may have been referring to the. future ships support ships a little fleet talk syllabary being with the curator international competition that's three ships they'll be built in the fleet solid support program they will be subject to international competition to secure the best possible value for money for the u.k. taxpayer but what we are doing what we are doing through our national shipbuilding strategy is ensuring that we develop that ship building capability here in the u.k. in a way that we can encourage all u.k. shipyards with the necessary skills and expertise to continue to engage in that particular program and douglas chapman joins me know welcome to the alex salmond sure that's very much there but the prime minister about his joy there but she seemed to concede that the minister of defense will no putting out to white tend across the world a range of ship building contractors. you know when we look back to the ship building stance she was only last year you know people who work in the ship

building this and she really thought the future was looking a bit greater however this latest announcement we have contracts and they're going to international tender means that british jobs squashed jobs are being sucked shipyards and you know the future for these workers is us but doesn't the prime minister have a point i mean the range of ships being put out to tender are not ships are likely carriers which have been built to your can states if serviceable ships are required for the navy and should write the public money and value for public money is the prime consideration well i think the been a whole range of different studies done to make sure that when you're looking at ship building it's not just the price of the cost of the ship you're building but it's the not cond benefits the whole economy can benefit from you know having. two hundred fifty people in the science who lost their jobs in the ember another

hundred fifty here lost their jobs in the last month or so and there's more job losses in the pipeline that means that there's all these people who are not paying tax not paying tax national insurance making a contribution to the local economy and making a contribution to the national economy and it's actually pretty good money after bad if you're in these contracts to go with the these i also and when we could be building on my them the clade that and belfast or as i would want in the signs so you can state see containing recife the huge legal docket that was has been refitting since the dreadnoughts in the first world war how many people are employed now that you can stay well there's a core workforce of roughly one thousand two hundred people working there as each carrier was built then the workforce is in is not required and the whole point the shipbuilding trustees to make sure that we have the skills the capabilities. infrastructure on a regular basis a steady drumbeat of orders

a steady drumbeat of new ships being built so that you don't lose these skills after you've spent ages and in the time and energy actually building that level a skill base up recife would terms of its capacity of the size of the dog is probably the only place in these islands you could refit the queen elizabeth the second for example comes back in for refit just a few years tide but it would be wrong with sending off to norfolk virginia preston trumps man have a go at refitting it would that be a great tragedy well it again a thing comes back to the whole point about maintaining skilled bases within the u.k. and retaining staying in that capability within the united kingdom as well and you know scott has got a strong ship building legacy that you know you it's been built up over many many years and where better to be for the ships the best cost. other than other than the science do you think the ministers really. are on top of

this issue do the understand the client for having a skill base and capacity it to refit or build ships in the future well that they certainly talk the talk as we witness from the prime minister's response they're not walking the walk and i think that's the clear message that's coming through from the trade unions for example in the science and other shipyards across cross country and i just feel that the you know there's a big opportunity here it's just slipping through our fingers like a big opportunity here it's just slipping through our fingers like sand and we need to do something about it and what are the workers saying what are the unions saying to the developing crisis really that obviously concerned about the future you know in the movie given the ship building started. as a way forward as a positive way of looking at ship building in the future one of the few things this government has has managed to get cost party support on yet when it comes. actually delivering then there's huge gaps and understanding of ministers to hope we can

best deliver for notice the ship building industry but live events and security the nation politically and shipbuilding it's always been a hot potato and i remember i've got the scars to prove it during the referendum campaign and scott on the twenty fourteen member being told scott became independent be no military ships built in scotland because they'd all be built in english are supposed to be a certain irony in the prime minister telling you that things about the international tend to support ships for example one of my colleagues just even saying they're just towards the end of. the the actually have read ours and armaments on them quite nicely make them ships of war if you like they're not just supply ships so again and on that front as well as been shown the the government you know the policy that the supposed to use in the people of scotland and twenty fourteen was just a load of nonsense and what we need to do is me shoo that we hold the government to

account and we try and protect as best we can the ship building industry that quite honestly the moment has been sealed in the never focused moment farther south and carriers in the in the second world war and i've taken my actually to the floating of the equivalent of the second and twenty fourteen and i was very impressed because even that wasn't a fish a launch it was a floating to the into the dock but the pride of the walkers it was evident for all to see walker from the cypress double a bit representatives from the other yobs who contributed so what does it mean to be a shipyard worker having built such a massive piece of engineering like the queen elizabeth the second well you even know that from your own experience with your dad you know that is asked a tremendous sense to played and. you know they're a fact of completed one of the biggest engineering jobs that this country's ever

ever produced you know and then a few months later to be told that you know your services are no longer required when. in reality you've been told that there's a long term future for you for you in your job in your family and i think you know that that's really. an unbelievable position to put people and your peer to your partner on the bike and one one hand and say well there's a p forty five or the other and you know that be devastating and i'm sure you're fond of he was there at the time as well phil felt the you know the sense of played in the fact of the it that produced one of the biggest ships on evey's ever in fact the biggest row in the biz ever built and you know that that play would be felt right through the whole the whole family as well as their plastic very close to the second was actually the same size lengthwise as the indomitable that my dad which was also refit enciphered

a much lighter because. it was much later in the queen elizabeth i've had many more men. did buy my dad said to one of the the admirals we met who is looking for an experienced hand then it might be persuaded if the money was right about the generations of people in your constituency who have been part of this process over over the years so it's a family of a generational thing as well as individual skills of individual workers useless i for example they were promised the on the nuclear submarine effects you know probably ten fifteen years ago and and the at that time because they didn't get that contract the whole community was devastated put themselves up by the bootstraps and thinking you know there's a strong future here and every member of the family be thinking you know i want to be an apprentice really proud of my dad. i'm a mom who have been part of this process and you know ticked again to be really

weighed down in this we. can attest to the community the site will continue but at this moment same need a lot of help and a lot of support and of course babcock. who who runs in the ones told me that if you try to build a facility like recife no which is basically built into the level for that you'd be talking ten billion reduction cost you would be a massive construction project which means of course it's a ten billion asset any minister who is who knows the budget strapped for cash in almost every aspect of the budget at the moment defense much at the moment you know you know be trying to find ten billion pounds to spend on a. dog yard but you know that i say already exists elsewhere in recife so why why build and make an investment of ten billion pounds when that money can be better spent on something that would be of value as a chaplain as the local m.p.

is a cipher to win through i certainly hope so i think we can put forward a real good campaign already working with their two unions and other m.p.'s from other yards to make sure that ship building is secured everything that was on the ship building started gee we can build on it and make sure the government understands how important is to make sure that we keep building in the exercice and govern and squats and all the other yards of course you can. wish you well not a cipher meter but a well made this is the alex salmond quick i don't have to tell you the drill you know whatever so you know one of us could go as far as say much that low you start in theory i just want rense like you thank you. despite the decline of shipbuilding in the twentieth century the pull of the great yards in the shipbuilding communities exerted a great pull of the political and social life of the country it was from yaddo the hunger marches started which galvanized opinion against the depression of the one nine hundred thirty s.

it was on the opera quite that the work started with saw jimmy did lead has workmates a historic victory and with a twenty government of edward heath of course how did will hasn't go to shit for years but the titanic exhibition has transformed visited attractions in northern ireland. we all would light celeb once again in a world where generations of highly skilled families well that pride in their communities and their country or ships in the clientele their nation and their whole lives however is this the world we have lost accountability claim to the twenty first century as british ship building going to be confined to declining markets a complex military ships specialist and profitable but limited in scale or cannot break free once again to become a major player on the world stage of commercial shipping next week we talk to people in the industry they say the ship building could be the comeback kids of the twenty first century industry be sure to join us so from alex me and all of the team here at alex i mean so we'll see you next week.

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hundred ninety s. . tom taking the mindset and what does the to change. that. it was just. almost sort of. like it's a chemical plant least khaliq. listen to what i'm thinking is like to be here because. they use pricing and the runs are there's a possible temptation that they can occur six scientists proof that team context really well on the human race to sign a surface to wells free of g.m.'s in crisis state which may even be able to see as we pass the points of never send.

those who know the middle east understand that the decision to bring tens of thousands of palestinian marchers to our border is the work of hamas the question is does a country like israel have a right to protect its border its internationally recognized border if you say no it doesn't then you you will be exposed. for. the not to want.

to know until ok but it does not. donald trump cancels what was supposed to be in the store excitement with north korea and i. the breaking news tonight despite pyongyang going ahead with dismantling its only nuclear testing facility a correspondent near the site is the underground network was destroyed. at the news the russian defense ministry criticizes the latest findings from the air crash investigators looking into the seventeen tragedy and twenty fourteen for lying on social media pictures instead of witnesses. i'm one of the year's biggest business events is underway here in russia as global industry leaders and political elites gather for the support this burg international economic forum.