Recommendation 50

We heard differing views over how decisions about how Scotland’s constitutional future might affect the shipbuilding pipeline. Professor Keith Hartley told us that “at the moment, the industry’s future depends on the Royal Navy. Without the Royal Navy, you would not have an industry.”86 He concluded that “I do not see a Scottish warship building industry in an independent Scotland.”87 John Howie of Babcock, however, indicated that the constitutional debate was not a concern. Discussing recent investment in Babcock’s facilities at Rosyth, he said the reality is that your business can operate from wherever it needs to. We would not have invested that money in the site at Rosyth if we were expecting to have to make changes to it.88