Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt said she has had an “amazing” visit to Belfast as work begins on a multi-million pound ship-building contract.
The Fleet Solid Support (FSS) contract with Royal Fleet Auxiliary unlocked £77 million of investment for Belfast-based Harland & Wolff to build three 40,000-tonne vessels which will supply the Royal Navy fleet, and Nato navies at sea.
Ms Mordaunt visited Harland & Wolff, which is home to one of the largest deep-water dockyards in Europe, as upgrades to the shipyard got under way to facilitate the new contract, which she said was “brilliant news for the whole of the UK”.
To mark the beginning of the work she met apprentices due to work on the project.
Ms Mordaunt said she had been discussing the expansion work at Harland & Wolff.
“It’s been fantastic to visit this incredibly important yard, which is really helping us bring shipbuilding back to the UK and enable us to expand that sector,” she said.
“We’ve been discussing expanding the square footage of this yard and we’ve cut the turf today on that, but it’s also about expanding jobs – 800 jobs here, 1,200 across the whole of the UK, but also knowledge and this really unique project for the fleet support ships is doing that.
“It’s building capacity here and we’re getting knowledge transfer from our partners.
“So it’s been an amazing, amazing visit.”
Devolved government in Northern Ireland has not been functional for over a year due to the DUP’s ongoing protest against post-Brexit trade agreements.
Asked if making decisions on future investment in Northern Ireland was easier when a devolved government was in place, Ms Mordaunt said: “Of course it is.
“And we really want people to have local decision makers taking decisions.
“Our focus is delivering for the people of Northern Ireland and that’s one reason why I’m here today.
“We had an Investment Summit here a couple of weeks ago that went really well. So things are still moving ahead. But of course, we want the local governments back up.”
Ms Mordaunt said Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was doing a “great job” in his attempts to get Stormont restored.
“Chris is doing a great job. He’s incredibly focused, but we want local decision making stood up.
“That’s what everyone wants, it’s what people in Northern Ireland want, it’s what the UK Government wants,” she said.
The FSS contract was awarded in January 2023 alongside partners in the Team Resolute consortium, comprising Navantia UK, Harland & Wolff and BMT.
The upgrade of the Belfast shipyard, to adopt state-of-the-art shipbuilding techniques, will underpin Harland & Wolff’s capacity to deliver key naval programmes of FSS and beyond.
Over the course of the FSS contract, at its peak, Harland & Wolff is expected to employ 1,200 personnel across its Belfast and Appledore shipyards, with an expected additional 800+ across the UK supply chain.
Furthermore, the improvements to Harland & Wolff’s Belfast site are being undertaken by Cleary Contracting, a local building company who have been awarded a multimillion pound contract to deliver the infrastructure upgrades over the next 18 months, expecting to create 50 new jobs.
John Wood, Harland & Wolff chief executive said the work will continue Belfast’s legacy of ship-building.
“It gives me great pleasure to see shovels in the ground as improvement works begin at our Belfast site.
“Belfast has a long shipbuilding history, and our latest investments will enable the site to continue designing, building and maintaining technologically cutting-edge vessels for years to come,” he said.
“The improvements will give us the ability to take on larger projects at an accelerated pace, using the latest manufacturing technologies, requiring skilled people that will be trained to the highest standard.
“This £77m investment is underpinning the transformation of the yard and will not only support FSS delivery but embed the latest technology across the group to increase our competitiveness in the European market and win new orders across our five markets of defence, commercial, energy, renewables and cruise and ferry.”
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the work that began on Thursday was a “hugely significant step” in the FSS programme.
“Supporting hundreds of skilled jobs in Northern Ireland, the expansion of this historic site hails the beginning of shipbuilding’s valiant return to Belfast, driving prosperity right across the Union,” he said.
All three support ships are expected to be operational by 2032.
The historic Belfast shipyard, which built the Titanic, appeared to be facing an uncertain future in 2019 when it was placed into administration.
Its future was secured when InfraStrata, now Harland and Wolff, acquired it for £6 million.