Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Northern Ireland to mark award of naval shipbuilding contract to Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard

During his visit tonight and tomorrow the Prime Minister will meet with businesses and communities in Northern Ireland, as well as political leaders.

In November, the UK Ministry of Defence announced Team Resolute as its preferred bidder for a £1.6bn contract to develop and build the next generation of Royal Navy Solid Support Ships, which will provide global logistics and operational support to the Royal Navy, including the Maritime Strike Group on deployment.

The Prime Minister is expected to highlight the UK-wide nature of the project and that it demonstrates how intertwined Northern Ireland’s economy is with the rest of the UK.

Ahead of his arrival, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Northern Ireland – its people and its future – are rightly at the centre of our shipbuilding ambitions.

“And completing the next generation of our world class Royal Navy Support Ships – to strengthen our security at sea and across the globe – could not have found a better home than in Belfast, once the biggest shipyard in the world, with its proud tradition of skill and expertise.

“The thousands of high value jobs and the skills that are gained from delivering it now will help to lay the foundations of prosperity for tomorrow.”

The proposals from British-led Team Resolute places Belfast and Northern Ireland at its heart by boosting the UK’s naval shipbuilding capabilities for the future.

It includes commitments to create 1,200 UK shipyard jobs and an expected 800 further jobs across the UK supply chain.

The plans is to complete the entire final assembly for all three ships at Harland & Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast and deliver 200 further education opportunities on graduate placements and apprentice programmes, with Harland & Wolff’s welding academy set to train 300 new UK welders for the programme’s duration.

Production is due to start in 2025 and all three support ships are expected to be operational by 2032.

This evening, the Prime Minister is due to host an introductory meeting and informal discussions with the party leaders Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of DUP, Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein, Alliance’s Naomi Long, Doug Beattie of the UUP and SDLP’s Colum Eastwood – building upon his recent attendance at the British Irish Council summit (BIC) in Blackpool.

At the BIC Summit, which was born from the Belfast Agreement, the Prime Minister also hosted his inaugural Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Governments Council, however due to a lack of formation of the Northern Ireland Executive, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister positions were unable to be represented.

The summit discussed both the shared economic challenges that people face, and the UK government response to support households throughout the winter via direct support.

Today’s engagement follows a roundtable with party leaders hosted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on Thursday morning, to discuss solutions to return the Executive.