Royal Navy boss reveals fears over staffing of UK’s nuclear deterrent
The submarine service – which delivers the UK’s nuclear deterrent – is not “awash with people” and work is under way to attract new recruits, the head of the Royal Navy has said.
Admiral Sir Ben Key attributed the challenge to a lack of debate about what it means for the UK to be a nuclear-armed power – a fundamental pillar of its security.
“I think it is fair [to say] that this country is not very good about talking about […] nuclear power as opposed to nuclear weapons,” the First Sea Lord told The House magazine.
While understanding why some people would be uncomfortable with the concept of nuclear power, he stressed that at sea it is “extraordinarily safe”.
The Royal Navy‘s submarine service – also known as the silent service – operates four Vanguard-class, nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines as well as the Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet, which is armed with conventional rather than nuclear warheads.
The nuclear-armed boats take it in turns to operate in secret for months out at sea.
Their core task is to ensure the UK always – 24 hours a day, seven days a week – has the ability to deploy a nuclear weapon against a target if needed.
This continuous at-sea deterrent – which has existed since 1969 – is designed to deter an enemy from launching nuclear weapons against the UK for fear of suffering the same fate: mutually assured destruction.
However, sustaining the deterrent requires a sufficient number of submariners who are willing to regularly spend months underwater without the ability to contact home – often without even knowing where in the world they are deploying.
Britain’s Vanguard-class nuclear deterrent submarines are based at Faslane in Scotland. File pic
‘War for talent’
In an unusually frank admission about what is typically a top secret part of the navy, Admiral Key was quoted as saying that recruiting for the submarine service was proving difficult.
“I’m not going to sit there and say that we are awash with people,” he told The House.
He revealed the navy is investing in outreach teams to explain to potential new recruits what life is like on a submarine.
“If you’re thinking of joining a submarine service as a young person, you want to go and talk to a young submariner and find out what it’s really like,” he said.
More broadly, the admiral said his service was in a “war for talent” as the navy starts to regrow its workforce after decades of cost-cutting shrinkage.
“We are effectively in a war for talent in this country – there is no great secret in that,” the First Sea Lord said.
“One of the challenges is actually, the navy of today, at 29,000 in a population of…about 65 million, actually, there are very few people who have got direct experience of coming from a naval family. Whereas if you track back 100 years, a lot of people had experience of a military family or a naval family.”
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Recruits also expect more in terms of communication.
The admiral – who at the age of 57 has served in the navy for the past 39 years – recalled once returning from a six-month trip to be greeted by his wife and sons. One of them, who was two years old at the time, did not recognise him.
Now, “expectations of contact with people you love are changing [and] the ability for near-permanent connectivity cannot be met if you are in a submarine”, he said.
The comments about submarine recruitment come as the navy seeks to expand its nuclear-powered submarine fleet as part of a new strategic partnership with Australia and the US – a move that will also require more submariners.
Business
‘Knock-back for London’ as AstraZeneca sells shares directly on rival New York Stock Exchange
One of the UK’s most valuable listed companies is to sell its shares directly on the rival New York Stock Exchange, in a move described as a “knock back for London”.
While AstraZeneca will maintain its headquarters in the UK and its primary stock listing on the London Stock Exchange, the news can be seen as a move away from London.
“Although there has been no suggestion that AstraZeneca is imminently going to up sticks and move its primary listing from London, there may be some nervousness this morning around the risk that the UK market might lose one of its largest constituents,” said Russ Mould, the investment director of investment platform AJ Bell.
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The news “does at least hint at the possibility of a more dramatic shift at some point in the future”, Mr Mould said.
There may also be relief that AstraZeneca is not moving from the London Stock Exchange altogether.
“I think there is probably relief that it’s not pursuing a primary listing in New York, but the decision is hardly a ringing endorsement of London,” said Neil Wilson, the UK investor strategist at investment platform Saxo Markets.
“It reflects the fundamental, structural issues in the UK for the largest globally-oriented stocks – the depth and liquidity of its capital markets is falling short of what’s on offer across the pond.”
“It’s also a bit of a knock-back for London”, Mr Wilson said.
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The Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company said the decision to sell shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange – rather than the previous less straightforward system of using American depository receipts – has been made to allow it “to reach a broader mix of global investors” and “make it even more attractive for all our shareholders”.
“The US has the world’s largest and most liquid public markets by capitalisation, and the largest pool of innovative biopharma companies and investors,” the company said in an announcement to investors.
AstraZeneca’s share price was up 0.7% on the news.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced it will partially resume manufacturing “in the coming days” after nearly a month in the wake of a cyber attack.
The luxury car-making plants have paused production since 31 August. The cyber attack halted car-making across the supply chain, with staff off work as a result.
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More than 33,000 people work directly for JLR in the UK, many of whom are on assembly lines in the West Midlands, with the largest facility located in Solihull, and a plant in Halewood on Merseyside.
Roughly 200,000 more are employed by several hundred companies in the supply chain, who rely on JLR orders as their biggest client.
“As the controlled, phased restart of our operations continues, we are taking further steps towards our recovery and the return to manufacture of our world-class vehicles,” a company spokesperson said.
The shutdown was said to last until at least 1 October.
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“Today we are informing colleagues, retailers and suppliers that some sections of our manufacturing operations will resume in the coming days,” the company added, days on from the partial restart of its IT systems, which allowed supplier payments to recommence.
“We know there is much more to do, but the foundational work of our recovery is firmly underway, and we will continue to provide updates as we progress.”
Over the weekend, the government said it would underwrite a £1.5bn five-year loan guarantee to JLR.
The promise came as the head of the influential Business and Trade Committee of MPs wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, warning small firms reliant on JLR, “may have at best a week of cashflow left to support themselves” with “urgent” action needed to support businesses.
JLR was just the latest business to be the subject of a cyberattack.
Harrods, the Co-Op, and Marks and Spencer, are among the companies that’ve struggled in the past year with such attacks.
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