HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH AND BRITISH SHIPBUILDING

That this House offers its congratulations to the Aircraft Carrier Alliance on the successful commencement of the sea trials of the Royal Navy's future flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth; notes that the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, at 65,000 tonnes displacement and 920 feet in length, the largest and most complex naval ship ever built in the UK, represent a world-leading superlative of British industrial capability and form the culmination of a combined effort of 8,000 shipyard workers around the UK, including Govan, Scotstoun and Portsmouth, Rosyth and Appledore in Devon, Tyneside and Birkenhead; further notes the critical role of an extensive supply chain comprising hundreds of companies and 3,000 people based around the UK that provide many of the component parts and materials used to construct both aircraft carriers, including engines and steel; is committed to the continued promotion of a thriving naval and commercial shipbuilding industry in the UK; and will consider a robust National Shipbuilding Strategy that should be comprehensive and effective enough to sustain the positive industrial legacy of the Queen Elizabeth programme for British shipbuilding for decades to come.