'No guarantees' over new aircraft carriers

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 21:34

THE future of British ship building will not be guaranteed under Labour if they win the election, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has admitted.

The admission came in a written answer on the 5 billion aircraft carrier project which Mr Ainsworth said would not be excluded from the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review.

The question had been put down by Conservative shadow defence secretary Dr Liam Fox after Labour and the trade unions had accused the Tories of putting the proposed two new aircraft carriers under threat.

In a recent meeting with trade union officials, organised by Labour Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson, Dr Fox had stated he would be looking at possible break clauses in the contracts for the carrier project.

The unions claimed that without the carriers, which are being built in the Clyde, Rosyth and two other British shipyards, the ship-building industry in the UK would collapse.

And Mr Ainsworth, after he announced the defence review, had suggested the 65,000 tonne carriers would be exempt. But in his answer yesterday, he said: "We have been very clear that everything other than Trident is included in the Strategic Defence Review."