SHIPBUILDING job security for Rosyth played centre stage in parliament today (Wednesday) as local MP Douglas Chapman slammed MoD mismanagement of the UK's navy fleet.

A key debate on the national shipbuilding strategy also heard that workers on the Queen Elizabeth carriers being built at the yard face being let down by the vessels not having support to effectively carry out their tasks upon their completion.

The comments were made by Mr Chapman in his first member-led debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday.

He highlighted to ministers that by 2021, the UK will not have built a single frigate in 20 years.

He said that delays on frigate-building would ultimately harm the effectiveness of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, currently being built in his Dunfermline and West Fife constituency.

"These carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy, are being built on time and on budget in my constituency," he said.

"That's thanks to a superb workforce at Rosyth Dockyard.

"It would be a great disappointment to these men and women if the ships they have crafted are not to be adequately protected."

Mr Chapman, a member of the Defence Select Committee, also said that the lack of modernisation of the fleet and a UK Government commitment to just 19 ships meant the UK was failing its allies.

He said: "By the end of the Falklands conflict, there were 50 destroyers and frigates. 

"Even in the 1998 Strategic Defence Strategy Review (SDSR), long after the Cold War had ended, a floor of 32 was constructed.

"Yet this is a Government which crows about its commitment to 19 frigates and destroyers.

"It is quite incredible to think that in 2017 we are still to see a signed contract to begin replacing this Cold War platform.

"No-one I have spoken to through my work on the Defence Select Committee - members, academics, shipbuilders, trade unions, even Civil Servants - sees this as in any way acceptable, yet here we are."

The Government committed to national shipbuilding as part of the 2015 SDSR, leading many to believe a firm pledge was being made to modernising the navy fleet.

However, contracts for T26 and T31 frigates - crucial to supporting larger navy vessels - have still not been signed due to ongoing budget wrangles.

Mr Chapman said: "Quite simply, the unerring ability of the MoD to change horses in midstream has added to the cost, the timescales and the uncertainty of the ongoing Naval procurement programme."

He told ministers his concerns that the order books for 'surface shipbuilding' were not sidelined by more glamorous 'big-ticket' projects.

He continued: "With the Royal Navy budget being further consumed by the Dreadnought programme, it is the Type 26 and Type 31 programmes which will be pushed to the right.

"What we all want to hear from the Minister today is a commitment that these cuts will not fall on the Royal Navy’s surface fleet."