Foreign suppliers to be blocked from building new nuclear submarine docks

Britain plans to block foreign companies from bidding on contracts to build new floating docks at Faslane, the nuclear submarine base in Scotland, Chancellor John Healey will announce. The measure, justified on national security grounds, is designed to ring-fence work for three new docks needed for maintenance of Britain’s Trident fleet. Healey is set to unveil the plan at the Labour conference alongside promises of a “new age of industrialisation” backed by defence projects. The move follows reporting that over £30bn of UK defence contracts over the past five years went to overseas suppliers. Healey also faces pressure to outline a defence-spending boost and to find an extra £4.7bn for the defence investment plan partially left unfunded by predecessor Rachel Reeves.