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There will be one ministerial statement from the Leader of the House of Commons Twitter feed which says
Leader of the House of Commons
@CommonsLeader
There will be one oral statement today:
1) Defence Secretary - Defence Personnel Update
I havejust checked the Order Paper for today. Unless we have any Ministerial Statements or Urgent Questions then the debate will start around 3.40pm and is scheduled to finnish at 10pm. So looks like a good five hours of debate. Despite her interest in the matter I would not expect the Leader of the House to take part. As I said in my 3 May post I am expecting the following to be bought up
Defence Spending in Northern Ireland
Service accomodation
AJAX
Defence procurement.
Consuela ref 14.22 the article I was referring to is this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_26_frigate as you will see i has so far taken seven years from first steel cut to now and the first vessel, HMS Glasgow, is still not fully finished. I would observe that seven years is how long Team Resolute has to build all three FSS ships. It is also worth noting that despite all their experience when BAe and BAB had to do an open tender for the FSS no only did they lose to Team Resolute their bid was non compliant. So yes I do believe in a fair competition HARL could win a bid against BAe and BAB.
Consuela ref 12.31 post with all due respect to you your statement shows an amazing lack of understanding of the capabiites and capacity of both BAe and BAB. The Type 26 programme is years behind schedule as can be seen from this article. BAe are indicating that they would need to use one the planned Type 26s to fulfil an order from Norway. I am not aware of any recent contract that either BAe or BAB finished on time or on budget. I note that BAB was so good at costing that in their most recent contract I forget the Type number they managed to have a shortfall of £100k. So regardless of what you think of HARL's capabilities they cannot do a worse job on delivering on contracts.
Just seen this article from UK Defence Journal https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-navy-to-boost-digital-capabilities-with-new-contract/ What I noted and its possible implications for future contracts for HARL is when the Defence Procurement Minister said “Establishing closer partnerships between industry and defence is a key part of my drive to integrate and procure equipment, capabilities, and services better in the future. It will see our highly trained personnel maintain capability whilst keeping pace with technology innovation.”
Will this closer working with industry extend to the procurement of naval vessels?
Just seen this thread on the UK Defence Journal twitter feed https://twitter.com/UKDefJournal/status/1787062396973928493 In my view this is short sighted there should be a greater spread of work across all shipyards as the danger is that the Scottish shipyards will reach capacity leading to delays in vessels being built and entering service.
Broomtree ref 13.21 post in relation to your point on my Anvil post your criticism is with all due respect unfair. In my post I referenced a comment from Professor Taylor before the Northern ireland Affairs Committee. During his evidence he made a comment about the quality of work by HARL in the past.
This article shows that contary to what Professor Taylor suggested before the Northern Ireland Select Committee HARL does build ships that last. https://www.military.africa/2024/05/british-military-sealift-vessel-anvil-points-refueling-stop-in-south-africa/ I note that Anvil Point was the last major vessel built by HARL and 22 years later it is still in service. I wonder if HARL will get the contract for the next refit.
This has been posted on LinkedIn
Brian Welsh 3rd+ Operations Manager
5h •
Not be too long before this lot are qualified as Tradesmen. some great talent amongst them , my first batch of apprentices going through from first year. proud as punch for them all.
The link to see the photo of the apprentices is https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7192467985079435264/
This has been posted on LinkedIn. When you look up Global Marine Travel and also the fact that the Founder was on this visit one wonders what was the purpose of the visit. Text of the post is:-
Global Marine Travel 3,448 followers 14 hours ago
'Founder & Managing Director, Tim Davey, and GM North America & Head of Global Sales, chris podolsky, pay a visit this week to Harland & Wolff shipyard in the Port of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Harland & Wolff stands as the originating site of the renowned Titanic, and it's their historical expertise, fused with cutting-edge technology, that has profoundly influenced the evolution of the maritime sector as we know it today.
This 81 acre shipyard was developed to be able to take some of the world’s largest vessels, and is well-served by two local international airports and seaports. The three ships seen here are: SeaRose FPSO, Margaritaville, and Ville Vie. Thank you Lucy Todd for the full shipyard tour!
hashtag#HarlandAndWolff hashtag#Belfast hashtag#MaritimeHistory hashtag#Titanic hashtag#ShipyardLegacyhashtag#GlobalM'
The link to see the photos is https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7192175312451883009/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(ugcPost%3A7192175311310991360%2C7192231540519501825)&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A(7192231540519501825%2Curn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A7192175311310991360)&origin=COMMENTS_BY_YOUR_NETWORK
Currently on Tuesday there will be a general debate on defence. This was due to have taken place about a month or so ago but emergency legislation needed to be rushed through so it was dropped. If I was too guess the following is likely to be raised.
Defence Spending in Northern Ireland
Service accomodation
AJAX
Defence procurement.
Due to a prior engagement I would not be able to watch the debate so can somebody let me know how many of these topics do get mentioned.
This update from UK Defence Journal shows progress on the Type 26 programme. Looks like a tight race as to whether FSS or the Type 26 will be finshed first. https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/a-breakdown-of-the-progress-of-each-type-26-frigate/
Just read this on CityAM https://www.cityam.com/coutts-under-pressure-for-pulling-2bn-out-of-london-stock-market/?utm_source=CityAM&utm_campaign=d406c32868-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_05_03_05_45&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d406c32868-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D It is possible that we will see some turbulence in the markets today. Not quite sure how it will affect HARL but I do not see it helping in getting a correction in the undervalue of HARL.
This from Cruise and Ferry Odyssey will depart on its cruise from Belfast and not Southamton https://www.cruiseandferry.net/articles/refurbishment-begins-on-villa-vie-odyssey-in-belfast