Sheffield steel keeping country safe in major defence deal as Prime Minister announces new investment
Sheffield steel is set to keep the country safe
700 jobs in the Steel City are part of an expanded £8.4 billion investment in nuclear submarine production nationwide.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged the massive investment into the UK’s Defence Nuclear Enterprise which will help continue developing the nation’s Dreadnought Class submarine programme.
It is expected create 47,000 new jobs across the country, including 22,000 new apprenticeships.
700 jobs earmarked for Sheffield at Forgemasters were first announced when John Healey was defence secretary in 2024 as part of an Aukus deal with Australia and the US.
Specialist steel used in nuclear reactors is produced at Forgemasters, with the PM saying that defence should also bolster British industry.
Speaking in Barrow, Cumbria, on Wednesday (July 30) - where 1,800 jobs have already been created from defence funding - Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any government - but security is not only about what we build, it is about who builds it, and who benefits from it.
“The submarines produced in Barrow will protect Britain for decades to come, and the 47,000 jobs and apprenticeships will change lives both in this town and in dozens of places like it.
“British money, spent on British workers, British firms and British skills, in the places that were written off for forty years. To every young person across the country, I want you to know that there is a path for you into a reindustrialised Britain, and it starts with the apprenticeships we are funding through this investment today.”
These latest announcements come after it was revealed that Forgemasters has four major projects as part of recent investment programmes worth more than £1 billion, while BAE Systems is opening a new manufacturing site and Independent Forgings & Alloys Ltd plans to double the capacity of its forge in the city.
Kate Josephs, chief executive of Sheffield Council, said at the time that it was “fantastic news for Sheffield,” adding: “It reinforces our position as one of the UK's leading centres for advanced manufacturing.”
Meanwhile, Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts, who has served in Parliament since 1992, said: “It’s the most optimistic I’ve felt about Sheffield industry in all my time as an MP.”