Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has announced a deal has been struck with Spanish state-owned business Navantia to takeover Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff.
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00:00This is a huge vote of confidence in the UK, it's good for jobs, it's good for national security,
00:05it's good for all parts of the UK and yes, the deal we have been able to see brokered
00:11secures all four yards and has job guarantees for years not months in all four of those yards.
00:17When we came into office this was one of the pressing problems that we faced and the fact
00:21that that loan guarantee to the company was on the table meant that it was getting in the way
00:26of a market-based solution. Now if I had given that guarantee I would have lost all of that
00:30taxpayers money, it would have gone to the lenders to Harland and Wolff because the business had a
00:34lot of debt and very few assets. By taking that off the table and then by working with the
00:39potential bidder, in this case Navantia, we've been able to get to a better solution that guarantees
00:43all yards, all jobs, delivers the fleet solid support ships for the Ministry of Defence,
00:49doesn't waste any taxpayers money and gives us a much better solution for the long term. So it
00:54required that decision in order to enable this solution.