Debate Magazine
Is it just me, or is there a bit of a mismatch between these two stories? From the BBC: BAE Systems is to cut 1,775 jobs at its yards in Scotland and England and end shipbuilding altogether at Portsmouth. The firm said 940 staff posts and 170 agency workers will go at the Portsmouth site, which will retain repairs and maintenance work. Some 835 jobs will be lost at yards in Govan and Scotstoun on the River Clyde in Glasgow, Rosyth in Fife and Filton, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol. The cuts follow a drop in work after the end of aircraft carriers work. BAE Systems said it had made the cuts because of a "significant" drop in demand. From the BBC: The cost of two new aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy is expected to be almost twice the original estimate, the government is expected to confirm this week. In the latest budget, the Ministry of Defence is set to estimate the cost of the two ships at £6.2bn. The department says it is renegotiating the contract to avoid further significant rises. Six years ago, when the contract was approved, costs were put at £3.65bn... Of the latest cost rises, the Ministry of Defence said: "Negotiations between the MoD and the Aircraft Carrier Alliance [the ship-builders] regarding the re-baselining of the Queen Elizabeth carrier programme are at an advanced stage... HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will not be finished until 2016 at the earliest, will be delivered before HMS Prince of Wales. The Aircraft Carrier Alliance is of course primarily the self-same BAE Systems.
