Labour stepping in to fund welding skills centre in Glasgow, Healey confirms

The UK Government is to fund a skills centre to support shipbuilding in Scotland – with Defence Secretary John Healey accusing SNP ministers of failing to back the sector.

Healey will use his speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool on Monday to confirm £2.5m is being made available for the specialist welding skills centre on the Clyde in Glasgow.

The UK Government has worked with Scottish Labour and Rolls-Royce to save the £11m Welding Development Facility.

It is hoped the centre will train the next generation of shipbuilders, with the funding coming after the UK Government signed a £10bn deal which will see Type 26 frigates for Norway built on the Clyde.

The UK Government stepped in amid Labour concerns that the SNP’s “anti-defence stance” was putting the creation of the welding skills centre in jeopardy.

Healey said: “Labour is proud of Scotland’s maritime heritage, and we are taking action to ensure its success long into the future.

“Where the SNP won’t back Scottish industry, young people or our national security, Labour will step in.

“With our record defence investment, and our record exports deals, Labour is making Scotland a shipbuilding superpower once again.

“We’ll deliver good, well-paid jobs and opportunities across the Clyde, Rosyth, Methil and beyond.”

Healey said he was “proud” to work with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and his party to “strengthen our national security in a more insecure world, while making defence an engine for growth across Scotland”.

He added that Labour could “turbocharge” these efforts if the party is elected to power in Scotland next May.

Sarwar said Scotland’s “world-class skills and proud shipbuilding tradition” have been “failed by the SNP”.

He said Labour is “proving that we are the only party that will back investment to protect our security and support high-paid jobs”.

He continued: “While the SNP turns its back on our national security and on Scottish workers, Labour is stepping up to safeguard jobs, strengthen our defences and invest in the next generation.

“This new welding facility is proof that when Scottish Labour and UK Labour work hand-in-hand, we can deliver the new direction and the new opportunities that Scotland needs.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scottish Enterprise did not receive a formal application for funding from Malin.

“We have provided over £90m in funding to companies operating in the aerospace, defence and shipbuilding sectors since 2006/07.

“We continue to support the defence sector, particularly regarding workforce development, which is fundamental to our national security and a strategic driver for Scotland’s economy.”