Do not buy British submarines, says Australian MP

AUSTRALIA’S opposition leader has warned the Canberra government not to buy British submarines for its future nuclear fleet because of potential production problems in the UK.

Peter Dutton said he favoured the Virginia-class nuclear submarines made by the United States because they were the best and most practical option.

Speaking just days before an expected announcement on which submarine Australia will choose under the country’s Aukus partnership with Britain and the US, Mr Dutton said that while he was defence minister he had been advised that the UK did not have the capacity to fulfil an Australian order.

“The advice to me at the time was very clear – that Rolls-royce didn’t have any production capability left,” he told reporters at the Avalon Air Show in Victoria last week.

“The beauty in my mind with the American model of the Virginia class was that it was a proven design, it gave us inter-operability with the Americans and there will be more American subs in the Indo-pacific than there will be British submarines,” he added.