'Massive investment' needed at home of Royal Navy's nuclear sub fleet, defence minister says

A defence minister has said massive investment is needed to improve the infrastructure at the home of the Royal Navy's nuclear deterrent.

Defence Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard has promised funding to develop facilities at the HMNB Clyde in Scotland will be included in the upcoming Defence Investment Plan, known as the DIP.

Speaking to Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee – Mr Pollard told MPs a lack of spending by previous governments has left the base on the Clyde in need of major investment.

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"I think if you look at the defence nuclear enterprise more broadly and the activities within the nuclear ring fence, which would include, for instance, some of the submarine activity that the Royal Navy undertakes, we haven't seen the investment for quite some time," he said.

"In fact, there was deliberate decisions made by the previous administration to move some of that investment to the right to manage some of the austerity policies they had at the time. 

"That has left a real backlog at Faslane and, having visited Faslane a number of times, I think it's fair to say that some of the facilities there, not just for the submarines but for the people, need massive investment. 

"What we will be setting out is the high-level spending lines for some of the nuclear transformation."

He added: "Now, that is both on the Clyde, where we will be announcing what kind of high-level investments in there, because it's part of the nuclear enterprise, we won't be going into the line-item details. 

"We need good facilities to dock the submarines, we need good facilities to maintain the submarines, and we need good facilities for our people who work there.

"I think at the moment it's fair to say that what we inherited doesn't deliver all three of those. 

"The plan will get after that, just as it gets after the necessity to have more deep refit facilities in Devonport in the constituency I represent, for instance," he went on.

"That's again something that was pushed to the right and I think one of the bits of inheritance that we're trying to get after in the DIP."

The Faslane base is home to the Royal Navy's four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines as well as Astute-class hunter killer boats and employs more than 6,500 people.

Mr Pollard hopes availability of the vessels will be improved by funding included in the Defence Investment Plan.

"The threat's rising – we need greater availability of our platforms," he told MPs.

"One of the reasons we don't have the availability that I think we would all like is not because of the platform itself, not because of the people, but because of the infrastructure that hasn't been invested in. 

"I can see why previous governments made the decision to delay what on paper looks very expensive, unsexy projects. 

"The problem is, they're absolutely vital for the ability for us to deploy those assets and that's why you should expect to see investment in Faslane in particular in the DIP."

The minister reiterated the promise that the DIP will be published by the Nato summit in Ankara on 7 July.