Gary's views

DEVONPORT

What is the truth about Devonport’s future, the naval base and the dockyard? I simply do not know, but I am worried.

First, the naval base. As our fleet is down-sized (wrongly) it is clear that less concrete waterfront at which to base-port our ships is necessary. The government very nearly decided last year that because of this we only need two bases not three, but bottled out of making such a dramatic decision. Portsmouth is going to be the home of the new aircraft carriers around which all of our fleet is to be organised. Faslane in Scotland is our submarine base. The risk is that the top brass will conclude that Devonport has no separate reason to exist and will order our ships elsewhere. Even if they have not reached that decision now, as the fleet continues to shrink, this decision will be revisited again and again. The hunt to save money in the defence budget will not go away. This makes us vulnerable. If we get a sniff of the frigates being moved to Portsmouth and the Trafalgar class submarines to Faslane, we know the writing is on the wall.

No government minister is going to stand up and say that he has decided to close the navy base. It will be left to wither on the vine until it becomes obvious that it has no future as a naval base.

Second, the dockyard. It is not sustainable on refitting Trident alone. There is less surface ship work to go around and plenty of competition. If the naval base does go, the impact on the yard will be colossal. The fear is of the work load dwindling so that the skills necessary to carry out future work disappear. The yard would not close of course; it would still be used as a storage depot for nuclear waste material. Unacceptable.

But surely, I hear you say, Babcock would not have invested £350 million in the yard if it did not have a glorious future. Why even ask the question when all of the worlds top banks have lost billions in investing unwisely in sub-prime mortgages in the US in recent years.

A senior person in the MOD has flown a kite about the naval base to judge the reaction. We have to respond decisively. The battle is now joined in earnest to secure a long term future for the engine room of our local economy.