Candidates ‘must back yard plan’
BY TORCUIL CRICHTON THE contenders for the Tory leadership have been urged to back calls for a new fleet of Navy ships to be finished at a Scots yard.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have not supported a campaign to have Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ships built across the UK, with assembly at Rosyth in Fife.
Chris Stephens, SNP MP for Glasgow South West, highlighted how Johnson visited the BAE yard in Glasgow last week but left without delivering a pledge.
He said: “The public are entitled to know what both individuals contending to become prime minister will do.”
Unions say up to 20,000 skilled jobs in the yards and 20,000 more in supply chains could be at risk without support.