MoD awards £3.2bn in contracts for UK’s naval bases and Royal Navy fleet

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From yesterday's Guadian ;

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/01/mod-awards-contracts-uk-naval-bases-royal-navy-fleet


"The Ministry of Defence has awarded contracts worth £3.2bn to support the management of the UK’s naval bases and maintain and repair the Royal Navy fleet.

The MoD said the contracts would directly sustain more than 7,500 jobs across the UK.

Babcock, which manages Her Majesty’s Naval Bases (HMNB) at Devonport and Clyde, has been awarded a £2.6bn contract, and BAE Systems, which manages HMNB Portsmouth has been awarded a £600m contract. .............................................................."


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Announced at the Conservative conference as a triumphant move which has 'saved' thousands of jobs and at the same time reduced costs (??? both things together ???) whereas the bases and the ships have to be maintained anyway so, one way and another, pretty much the same number of jobs were safe in any case. DC must think that because we plebs are too stupid to spot this.

 

Regarding the "reduced costs", it might be that we had a greater number of ships when the previous contracts were let.

 

All politics aside, the Government could have opted for funding 2 bases only - it must have been on the table as an option anyway ahead of the Scottish Independence vote - so the fact that all 3 dockyards have been given funding does actually safeguard 7,500 jobs

 

1 Conservative seat in Pompey and one they are desperate to win. They won't announce the no-doubt inevitable closure until after the election's won (or as near to it as they are going to get).

 

Closure? They seem to have ensured that it's the only Base that can berth the QEs and DSDA (and, in fairness, the previous asset holders) has ensured that it's the most modern and capable supply depot in the Country.

 

Read somewhere (NN I think) that total cost of making the yard fit for QEs is £150m. That's a drop in the ocean of recent MoD write-offs. Give it ten years and they'll end up at Rosyth next time we have to bribe the separatists up north.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Rosyth the only Yard the QEs can go for Upkeep periods and whatever we cal DEDs this week? A "yes" vote would certainly have made life interesting.

 

Rosyth currently is the only port big enough to put us in to a dry dock. That said most upkeeps could be done alongside Pompey. It's only when the bottom needs to be dry that we will go to Rosyth.