GOVERNMENT plans to fully equip two new multi-billion pound aircraft carriers have been hailed as "excellent news" for the shipbuilding industry in Scotland.
John Robertson, the Labour MP for Glasgow North West, spoke out following the defence review in which an original plan to leave one carrier unable to launch or land fast jets was reversed.
Mr Robertson, chairman of the Shipbuilding Group, said: “At long last we have something from this Government on the record, let’s hope this is the end of the matter and that they keep to it. The workers in the historic shipbuilding industry in Glasgow don’t need to have the fear of losing their jobs hanging over their heads.
“This is excellent news for the Navy and the shipbuilding industry. It would have been absurd to build two carriers and then leave one of them unable to launch or land fast jets.”
The 280-metre HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, along with its sister HMS Queen Elizabeth, survived last autumn’s defence review, despite massive cuts elsewhere in the Ministry of Defence budget.
Britain’s ability to fly jets from warships was a decisive factor in its 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, and in May some British defence chiefs said an aircraft carrier would also have helped in the current Libya campaign.
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