Healey pledges £6bn for UK-built submarine docks at Faslane

BBC News reports that Healey plans to announce that three new floating docks for HM Royal Naval Base Clyde at Faslane will be built in the UK rather than put out to international tender. The docks, first proposed in 2023, are intended to support the next generation of British submarines. They form part of a wider £15bn upgrade of Royal Navy shipyards and are expected to enter service in the early 2030s. The £15bn is the cost of the wider programme, not the stated cost of the docks. [1]

Healey is also expected to promise £115m for a marine research vessel due to enter service in the early 2030s. First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said on Sunday that the government would commission the ship. His planned speech includes a proposal to restore England’s Union Learning Fund with £15m from existing government budgets. Its training would be available to workers whether or not they belong to a union. [1]

Healey says backing British shipyards would strengthen national security and industrial resilience. GMB national secretary Charlotte Brumpton-Childs said the policy could benefit shipyards and their communities. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith called the plans “reheated announcements” and said there was no clarity about where the money would come from. [1]

Update

Speaking at Labour’s conference, Healey said the government would commit £6bn in contracts for British shipyards. The three floating dry docks are intended to maintain the Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines at Faslane. A UK-only competition will choose the builder; BBC News describes Navantia UK, which owns sites in Fife and Belfast, as a frontrunner. [2]

Faslane currently relies on a single shiplift to take submarines out of the water. The proposed docks form part of a wider £15bn upgrade of the base planned over the next decade. Healey also pledged £115m towards a UK-built replacement for the marine research vessel Cefas Endeavour, expected in the early 2030s. [2]