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Fleet Solid Support Ships Report
As previously trailed, I am delighted to announce the publication of the CSEU’s report on Fleet Solid Support Ships – “Fleet Solid Support Ships – Supporting the Royal Navy, Supporting the United Kingdom”. I believe the report builds on the GMB’s “Turning the Tide” paper and presents a very compelling argument that these ships should be classified as warships and thus would be exempt from EU competition regulations. Even if the Government was determined to press ahead, despite the fact that we have shown a number of EU nations with shipyards have somehow found a way to build their support ships in their yards, then there is not a level playing field. Many other competitor shipyards are either state-owned or heavily subsidised – UK yards are not. We argue that this fact should be taken into account in weighing bids. Finally, we believe there are very strong arguments that the tax, national insurance and corporation tax that the Treasury receives back from UK workers and their employers should be taken into account in the calculations. It would effectively mean that building here gave the MoD a discount of at least 20%.
We are building a big campaign on this and there will be more events to follow.
