Brown backs call to save carriers deal

FORMER Prime Minister Gordon Brown has added his voice to calls to save the £5.2 billion contract for aircraft carriers being built at Rosyth and on the Clyde.

He said it would make "no sense" to scrap the two carriers at this stage and warned of the strategic and economic costs of doing so.

Mr Brown claimed the costs of cancellation were probably now greater than the costs of going ahead.

He said: "I think the point that's got to be recognised is that contracts have already been signed. The get-out clauses are very expensive,

"So on these financial grounds, as well as the strategic and economic grounds - and I think of the workforce here that has served the country and deserves its chance to continue in work - there is absolutely no sense and it would be a betrayal of Rosyth and the shipbuilding yards on the Clyde if the aircraft carriers were cancelled."

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray welcomed Mr Brown's intervention. He said thousands of jobs in Rosyth and on the Clyde depended on the carriers, as well as technical and manufacturing skills vital for Scotland in the 21st century.