BAE Axes 1775 Shipyard Jobs across England and Scotland

BAE Systems is cutting 1,775 jobs at three UK shipyards across England and Scotland.

According to a statement by the defence giant, BAE Systems will slash 940 jobs in Portsmouth in 2014 and 835 across Filton, Glasgow and Rosyth by 2016.

BAE Systems confirmed that it is overhauling its naval manufacturing operations and the cost of the restructuring will be "borne by the Ministry of Defence".

Job losses would result from the completion of work on the building of two new aircraft carriers and from a huge increase in the costs of that project.

But some of the jobs being lost may be offset by a contract to build the new Type 26 Global Combat Ship.

"We continue to work closely with the Ministry of Defence to explore all possible options to determine how best to sustain the capability to deliver complex warships in the UK in the future," a BAE spokeswoman said.

"This work is ongoing and we are committed to keeping our employees and trade unions informed as it progresses."

There are currently 3,200 workers employed by BAE across Govan and Scotstoun, and 1,200 employed in shipbuilding at Portsmouth.

BAE launched a review of its defence work 18 months ago and the company is expected to announce the job losses on 6, November.

The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions said it has secured talks with senior BAE executives early next week to examine the business case of the forthcoming announcement.

"Now is not the time for idle speculation or indeed party political point scoring, this is the future of an industry and we need to know from the company and the Government directly what their plans for the future of UK shipbuilding are," added Hugh Scullion, leader of the CSEU.

"The shipbuilding workforce throughout the UK are working flat out to deliver the aircraft carriers for the defence of the UK and they need to know what lies in store for them, their families and their communities."