Royal Navy: HMS Northumberland and other ships to be axed as government wields hammer to cut MoD costs

Defence secretary John Healey confirmed in parliament today that HMS Northumberland and other landing crafts are among the equipment due to be shelved. The Labour MP for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough blamed the “dire inheritance” left by the Tories, and said the UK needs more advanced technology at a faster rate than ever.

Mr Healey said Labour is the party of defence, and the problems he has seen since taking office were “even worse than we thought”. “It was a dire inheritance,” he told the House of Commons. “The state of the finances and the forces, often hidden to parliament, bullion pounds black holes in defence plans, taxpayers funds being wasted, military morale down to record lows. That’s why we’re taking swift action now to inject investment, get a grip of MoD budgets and kickstart much needed reforms to fix the foundations for UK defence.”

Mr Healey described HMS Northumberland - Type 23 Duke-class warship - as “a frigate with structural damage which makes her uneconomical to repair.” HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, two former flagships, will also be decommissioned. The defence secretary said these two vessels were “retired” by previous ministers but were "superficially kept on the books” at a cost of £9m a year.

Other capabilities due to be dropped include 46 watchkeeper Mk1 drones, which are 14 years old, 14 Chinook helicopters - some aged up to 35 years - two Wave-class tankers which Mr Healey said “had not been to sea for years”, and 17 Puma helicopters. Mr Healey said the military capabilities taken out of service will save £150m over the next two years, and up to £500m over the next five years - with funds remaining in defence.

“I recognise these will mean a lot to many who have sailed and flown in them during their deployments around the world,” the politician said. “They have provided a valuable capability over the years, but their work is done and we must look now to the future. All current personnel will be redeployed or retrained, no one will be made redundant.

“These are common sense decisions which the previous government failed to take. Decisions which will secure better value for money for the taxpayer, and better outcomes for the military, decisions which are all backed by the chiefs and taken in consultation with SDR reviewers. Allies have been informed, and we have constant dialogue with Nato.

“These will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make, to fix the defence inheritance we were left with, but they will help it get a grip of finances now, and they will give greater scope to renew our forces for the future, as we look towards the strategic review and to 2.5 per cent.”

Mr Healey also announced some retention reforms. A cohort of tri-service aircraft engineers will be offered a £30,000 retention payment from April if they sign up to an additional three years service. From January, £8,000 will be given to Army personnel who have served for four years, which would support 4,000 troops each year for three years.

Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, Conservative, was aghast at the announcement and said the Tories inherited a much worse situation in 2010. “We will take no lectures on blackholes,” he exclaimed. “You have refused to set a pathway to 2.5 per cent, and now we see the consequences. Cuts instead of a pathway to 2.5 per cent.”

The South Suffolk MP dismissed the notion that the last defence spending election pledge, announced four weeks before polling day, was a gimmick, as it would have been funded by reducing the size of the civil service. “That’s not a gimmick, it’s just something their union paymasters won’t allow them to do,” he added.

Mr Cartlidge said HMS Bulwark and Albion were placed in “extended readiness”, but personally sought and received assurances from Navy leadership that in the event of a full scale warfighting scenario, where the priority was “literal capability”, those ships could have been regenerated to fight and be fully staffed.

“Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we're removing that capability entirely,” Mr Cartlidge said. “Whatever the chancellor's true grapes of economics, she has certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country. Getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they have undertaken the much-vaunted Strategic Defence Review.” He added: “They are weakening our defence capabilities and our national security. Labour have made their choices. They own the consequences.”