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News 2007
Former BAE boss recalls ‘shocking’ state of shipyard
A FORMER Barrow shipyard boss fears for the future of naval shipbuilding in light of the resignation of a government minister.
Sir Richard Evans also said the town’s yard was in a shocking state when BAE Systems bought it back in 1999.
The former BAE chairman recalled his first impressions of the yard in a speech at Furness Enterprise’s annual open meeting at the Abbey House Hotel on Thursday.
He said he feared the government’s strategy for naval shipbuilding had been blown out of the water by the resignation of defence procurement minister Lord Drayson.
Blackpool-born Sir Richard, who still does some work for BAE and is chairman of United Utilities, said he decided to buy the former GEC shipyards at Barrow and Clyde, as well as the then moribund Kavaerner yard at Govan, after a session at Downing Street with former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
He said he went ahead with the move in return for assurances of help with negotiating the competition authorities.
Sir Richard said: “When I came up here I was really quite shocked with what I saw having come from a company that invested huge amounts of money into businesses – not just in technology but into future systems important for future markets and into the very fabric of the places where our people worked.
“In many ways Barrow shocked me more than the Clyde, but we rapidly put some plans together to start making some changes and putting some investment in here.
“I knew we had done the right thing very soon after making the decision.” He said a woman came to him crying and thanking him because the yard had again started taking apprentices in Barrow after a gap of seven or eight years.
The knight said Barrow was part of a “great pocket of engineering expertise and excellence” in the North West.
Later he told the Mail he had been shocked by the yard’s low morale as well as lack of investment.
Of the Defence Industrial Strategy, he said: “Drayson put a lot of personal integrity into the DIS and laid down a series of guidelines, but that is now just completely blown out of the water and I have to say I can’t see any resolution of it.”
He said the navy was in the firing line for cuts after having already taken a series of huge hits.
He said: “Whether the aircraft carriers do go ahead will be an interesting thing to observe.”
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