Boost for Rolls Royce Scottish plant as firm invests £300m in UK factories
Chancellor John Healey confirmed during his Labour Party Conference speech in Liverpool that the company’s factory in Inchinnan, near Glasgow Airport, would receive funding
Rolls Royce’s Scottish plant has been handed a boost after it was announced that the firm is investing £300 million in its factories.
Chancellor John Healey confirmed during his Labour Party Conference speech in Liverpool that the company’s factory in Inchinnan, near Glasgow Airport, would receive funding.
He said this was part of “the new age of industrialisation”.
Mr Healey told Labour members on Monday afternoon: “Today I can announce that Rolls-Royce will invest an extra £300 million pounds into its British factories in Derby, in Bristol, in Glasgow and in Rotherham.
“This is the new age of industrialisation, this is the new confidence in Britain lit by this Government, driven forward by business.”
He confirmed previously trailed plans for £6 billion of government contracts for British shipyards.
This included three floating docks for Faslane naval base being built in the UK.
Navantia in Fife wants to win the contract for the floating docks - but it has not been confirmed that it will be tendered to a Scottish yard.
Mr Healey said: “We are choosing through actions, not just words, to back Britain by buying British.
“We know that we needed new floating dock facilities up on the Clyde. Previously, the default option would have been to go out to tender across the world and potentially see billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and jobs in shipbuilding go elsewhere.
“That’s not the political choice we’re making today.
“We’re announcing that around £6 billion-worth of our public money is going to stay here in Britain – backing Britain, buying British – so that’s a way in which we can demonstrate to people that, as well as spending the proceeds of growth, we’re investing here in Britain.”
The Chancellor used his speech to the Labour Party conference to seek to reassure financial markets with a commitment to being responsible with the nation’s finances while also attempting to build confidence in British industry.
He said reforming the welfare system to get people back into work was not just an “economic must” but a “moral duty”.
Mr Healey said: “Let’s bring back hope to Britain for the next generation of young people, for a new age of industrialisation, for growth made here by British firms and British workers.”
The new Chancellor, who will deliver his first Budget next month, acknowledged that he did not have the money available to him that his predecessor Gordon Brown had in the New Labour era.
And facing increased government borrowing costs, he sought to reassure the markets that he would be responsible with the money he did have.
“Through the core of the Budget I deliver a month today will be fiscal discipline, to give families and businesses a bit of breathing space, to drive good growth and jobs in more places and to write a new chapter of hope for Britain’s future,” he said.
Mr Healey promised to help young people move from “generation jeopardy to generation hope” by improving job prospects.
He said: “It is not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill, and a system which offers an income but doesn’t offer a future.
“So once again, as a Labour government, it falls to us to act. And this is more than just an economic must. This is a moral duty.
“I refuse to write off a million young people like the Tories have done.”
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