Tory defence minister fails to guarantee Type 32 frigates will be built in Scotland

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A UK defence minister has failed to guarantee that a multi-billion pound programme to build Type 32 frigates in Scotland will go ahead.Alex Chalk told the Record insisted it remained "overwhelmingly likely" the ships would be built - but added that future specifications still had to be worked out.The Type 32 was previously announced in November 2020 by former prime minister Boris Johnson as part of a pledge to restore "British influence and excellence across the world’s oceans".It was expected work would commence at Rosyth dockyard from 2028 but a confirmed start-date has yet to be confirmed.Speculation has mounted in defence circles in recent months that the project will be scrapped as a cost-saving measure, with work focusing on the previously announced Type 31 frigate instead.Chalk was visiting the BAE shipyard in Govan today where the first steel was cut on the future HMS Birmingham, the fourth of eight planned Type 26 frigates to be built on the Clyde.Asked if he could offer confirmation the Type 32 would be built, he said: "Whether we are on the Forth or on the Clyde, we are looking at shipbuilding deep into this decade and beyond."We will have Type 31 and Type 26 and there will be ships beyond that.

Precisely the spec of those future ships is something you have to work out once you can see all of the capabilities it needs to perform."Let me tell you this - 10 years ago there was a question mark about shipbuilding in Scotland.

There are no such question marks now."So whatever type you want to call it, shipbuilding is secure in Scotland for decades to come."Asked if there was a question mark over Type 32, he added: "No, I don't think there is."We are absolutely committed to Type 31, and I see it as overwhelmingly