The Keep our Future Afloat Campaign {KOFAC's} is a trade union led lobby for new UK shipbuilding orders.The aims of the non political Campaign are to:
- Sustain and grow jobs in naval shipbuilding in north west England
- Secure full utilization of the unique assets found in the Northwest of England's naval shipbuilding industrial base—the shipyards at Barrow and Birkenhead and their supply chain of hundreds of companies.
- Sustain the majority of the UK's naval ship/submarine design capability, which is located in Barrow and complemented in terms of shiprepair by capability a Birkenhead shipyard.
The Keep Our Future Afloat Campaign welcomed the Government's intention to conduct a Strategic Defence Review in 2010.
KOFAC policy is to
- influence the level of Government funding available for naval warship and nuclear powered submarine programmes.
- support the shipbuilding industries effort to design, build and deliver affordable warships.
- promote the achievements being made by Barrow shipyard.
Taking a lead from the December 2005, Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS)
KOFAC urges the Government to deliver the full planned MoD warship building programmes described therein as a means of implementing the National Security Strategy.
The trade unions firmly believe that navalshipbuilding including submarines orders must be undertaken in British Shipyards.
A steady drumbeat of orders are needed to enable the Royal Navy to have the ships and submarines it needs to safeguard the sea-lanes on which UK trade depends and to ensure UK can conduct expeditionary operations safely.
Barrow has a key role in delivering that Strategy by building both warships and submarines whilst also contributing to through life equipment support.
KOFAC welcomed the Government's decision, endorsed by Parliament on 14 March 2007, to go ahead with a successor submarine fleet to replace the existing Vanguard class,trident missile carrying boats.It should be clearly noted that the cost of this is estimated at £15-20billion.In addition it should be noted that the existing missiles do not need replacing until around 2042.Successor is an affordable investment for our nation's security.
