§ 15. Mr. Bruceasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any plans to award naval contracts to shipyards in Scotland.
§ Mr. LeeThere are currently four frigates and two salvage vessels being constructed in Scottish yards employing directly over 5,000 people. In addition, we are planning to place an order for a range mooring vessel with Scott Lithgow later this year, followed by two lighters, subject to the negotiation of satisfactory terms and conditions.
§ Mr. BruceIs the Minister aware that his answer will be greeted with some disappointment in Scotland where a number of yards are in desperate need of naval orders? Is he further aware of the resentment at Hall Russell in Aberdeen that it was not able to bid for the last order which he mentioned? Will he now recognise that, because it is a designated warship yard, it is in urgent need of a Government order to enable its future to be secured? Cannot he come forward with something more positive than the reply he has just given?
§ Mr. LeeI am sympathetic to the situation in Hall Russell, but I have to say that sadly there is overcapacity in all our warship yards, and future orders have to be won on the basis of competition.
§ Mr. StrangIs it not a scandal that the Government are prepared to spend thousands of millions of pounds on American technology and American jobs, but are not prepared to invest in British jobs and British yards? Why do the Government not do something, for example, about the decline in the British merchant fleet?
§ Mr. LeeThe fact is that 95 per cent. of the £8.5 billion procurement spend is spent within the United Kingdom and sustains our defence budget — [Interruption.]—sustains in this country about 1.2 million jobs.