CHINA CRISIS

MSP raises concerns over 'risk to our national security'

- BY CHRIS MCCALL

TUG boats ordered for the Faslane naval base on the Clyde will be built in China despite security concerns, the Record can reveal.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) sparked fury from trade unions after it announced a £200million contract to build 24 support vessels for the Royal Navy had been handed to Damen, a Dutch defence giant which has a global portfolio of shipyards.

No yard in the UK was invited to bid for the work despite uncertainty about the future of the Ferguson Marine site in Port Glasgow.

The yard was nationalised by SNP ministers in 2019. Scottish Labour MSP and former shipyard worker Paul Sweeney said boats destined for Faslane - the home of the UK's nuclear deterrent - should not be made in China. He said: "It's clear that if Damen is subcontracting some of this work out to Chinese yards, and I know some of the workboats specified tend to be manufactured in China under the Damen group, that would be completely unacceptable from a national security perspective.