Financial support for troubled Belfast shipbuilder Harland and Wolff ‘under review’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The market is “best placed” to deal with financial difficulties faced by Belfast shipbuilder Harland & Wolff, the British prime minister has said.

The UK government has decided not to offer financial support to the troubled firm over concerns of losing public money.

The company had applied for a £200 million (€235 million) loan guarantee from the British government as part of efforts to restructure its finances.

However, the British government decided not to act as a guarantor on the lending – while also ruling out direct funding to maintain the company’s liquidity.

Speaking to reporters in Belfast, Keir Starmer said the decision will be kept “under close review”.

He said: “We’ve obviously looked at that very carefully, the business secretary has made a decision about it. Of course, we will keep that under close review.

“We do think the market is best placed to deal with the current situation, but we’ll keep it under review because the work – particularly in the defence realm – is very, very important to us.”

Harland & Wolff, which famously built the Titanic, has four sites – one in Belfast, two in Scotland (Methil on the Firth of Forth and Arnish on the Isle of Lewis) and one in England (Appledore in north Devon).

The company has said it will seek alternative new debt facilities.