Council and business leaders on the south coast of England have condemned the decision to end shipbuilding at Portsmouth dockyard and called for immediate help for affected workers.
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, said: “I condemn the decision to shut down the last remaining shipyard in England with the capability to build advanced surface warships.
“This decision is bad for Portsmouth, with the loss of many highly-skilled jobs, but it’s also bad for the defence of the UK and for the Royal Navy.
“The remaining yards with the capability to build advanced warships are in Scotland, and the referendum on Scottish independence is less than one year away. Ministers have put the defence of the UK and the future of the navy at real risk.
“We will work as hard as we can to protect jobs in Portsmouth.
“The £100m announced by the Secretary of State for Defence today does not look as if it includes any new money. It’s all money that has been announced before to support the carriers coming to Portsmouth. Therefore, we want proper support in terms of lessening the impact of this decision.
“Portsmouth remains the home of the Royal Navy, with more than 10,000 jobs remaining in the dockyard.”
David Williams, chief executive of the council, said: “This decision is a major blow to Portsmouth and the surrounding area. The affected people will need help immediately.
“We urge government to provide substantial funding to support affected workers as soon as possible.
“Over the last year we have been working on a joint Portsmouth-Southampton City Deal with government, which would give the area more power over its economic future. But this week’s issue goes beyond any City Deal.
“We need immediate support from government to help affected workers. We want to make sure it is used to keep vital skills in the area, help skilled people transfer to other jobs or enable workers to re-train for the engineering jobs of the future.
“But it’s important to point out that Portsmouth and the wider Solent area are not facing decline. There is huge investment coming into the area – £1bn into Portsmouth alone – and major regeneration taking place. The dockyard will remain a massive employer with a crucial role in servicing and supporting naval ships.”
Cllr Simon Letts, Leader of Southampton City Council, said: “This decision is also important for the wider area, as the dockyard supports thousands of jobs across the Solent. We will be doing everything in our power to make sure there is proper support for the workers affected, building on our recent experience with Ford in Southampton.”
Doug Morrison, chairman of the Solent Local Economic Partnership, said: “It is a sad day for a heartland industry in the Solent and for all the people here who have spent their working lives in it.
“It is a setback for our ambitions to grow and develop the region’s advanced manufacturing sector and it is important that we act quickly to minimise the impact on the Solent economy.
“We are working with partners to establish a task-force with immediate effect. The LEP will quickly move to bring forward a range of support programmes and we are committed to working with all those individuals and businesses affected.”
An announcement on the Portsmouth-Southampton bid for a City Deal, made by the two city councils and the LEP, is expected soon.
City Deals give local areas new powers to enable them to grow. In return for cities’ plans for growth the government can devolve financial and planning powers to let them take charge of their own destinies – from autonomy over how to spend their training and skills budgets, to creating local investment funds to build roads and unlock development sites.
The first one was agreed, with Liverpool, in February 2012. Portsmouth and Southampton – the only two cities to propose a joint deal – made their bid last January.
