The GMB trade union said industry sources suggested the £1 billion contract for support vessels for the navy’s new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, could go to the Navantia naval yard in northern Spain. According to the GMB, there is a growing belief decision to give the work to Spain could be linked to Brexit-related negotiations over the future of Gibraltar. Tim Roache, general secretary of the GMB, said: “If the contracts for these ships go abroad, the Government is basically sticking two fingers up to shipbuilding communities and the entire manufacturing industry in the UK.

“No other government would outsource national security. If it is true this deal is being done because of ministers’ abject failure to sort out Brexit then it’s not just negligent, it is grubby and reeks of self-preservation and putting party politics ahead of people’s livelihoods and communities.

“If this is what the Government is planning, it needs to think again.”

The 35,000-tonne vessels will one day ferry ammunition and food to the Royal Navy’s two giant supercarriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, both of which will be based in Portsmouth.

But the only UK company competing is Babcock, which would send part of the work to the Rosyth yard in Fife.

Speaking to the Daily Record, GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “We have been clear that the contracts for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels hold the key to the transformation of our shipbuilding sector.

“Three 40,000-ton vessels would provide years of work for yards like Rosyth, where we are haemorrhaging jobs.”

The Ministry of Defence announced in November that companies from Italy, Spain, Japan and South Korea were in the running for the contract.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “We are required, by law, to procure the Fleet Solid Support ships through open international competition. We issued formal tender documents to bidders, including a UK consortium, in late 2018.

“The final decision regarding the winning bid will be made in 2020.”

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