Fareham Labour is hugely disappointed by the announcement from BAE Systems.
The loss of 1100 highly skilled jobs (including staff and contractors) is a huge blow for the Southern Hampshire economy. Inevitably, there will be further related job losses in companies connected with the dockyard which depend on the shipbuilding work.
The impact of this unwelcome news from BAE Systems will have an impact throughout the whole of the Southern Hampshire coastal area – a large number of residents of Fareham are employed in the dockyard with many former employees of Vosper Thorneycroft at Woolston currently making the daily commute.
Our thoughts are with employees and their families as the 500 year tradition of shipbuilding in Portsmouth comes to an end. The skilled jobs being lost today will be extremely difficult to replace, following as it does the closure of manufacturing jobs at the Ford plant in Southampton. Labour worked hard to secure shipbuilding in the south of England, whilst this coalition government has done nothing to prevent the job losses announced.