John Healey opens negotiations with Australia for treaty which includes nuclear submarines made with Sheffield steel
Mr Healey hosted Richard Marles, who is also Anthony Albanese’s Deputy Prime Minister, and US Defence Secretary Lloyd James Austin III at an Aukus security partnership meeting yesterday in London.
If Australia and the UK sign a treaty, the Westminster Government has estimated the SSN-Aukus submarine build project would unlock UK exports into the billions of pounds.
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Hide AdThe subs will use steel from the iconic Sheffield Forgemasters, which dates back to the start of the Industrial Revolution.


It is a big economic boost to the wider region, which already has around £330 million of investment in the defence industry.
Further construction of the UK’s Royal Navy units will take place at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, in Cumbria.
Rolls-Royce will build nuclear reactors to power both the UK and Australian craft at its Raynesway site in Derby.
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Hide AdThe Defence Secretary previously said they are “the most advanced and powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy”.
The subs are set to become a key part of both countries’ armed forces.
They are expected to be ready for the UK’s Royal Navy in the late 2030s and the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s.
Mr Healey, who is also the MP for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough, confirmed that he and Mr Marles had agreed “that negotiations will soon be under way for a new bilateral treaty to bind our Aukus collaboration into law”.
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Hide AdHe said: “This not only reflects our commitment to secure a secure Indo-Pacific region where international rules are respected, it also sends a very strong message that our defence alliance is one that will endure for many decades to come.”
This will include training hundreds more Australian military personnel to operate, maintain and regulate the nuclear-powered submarines.
Nearly £10 billion has been earmarked for spending on UK nuclear infrastructure and the nuclear industry since the formation of the Aukus partnership in 2021, the Defence Secretary said.
Mr Healey said: “Our investment in this partnership helps our industries to prosper and breaks down barriers to trade. Secondly, the skills and experience that we share boosts jobs and boosts growth across our nations.
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Hide Ad“And third, the investment in our future technologies helps drive innovation and will help develop new warfighting capabilities.”
Mr Healey and Mr Marles previously said that Sheffield Forgemasters is “a shining beacon for industrial renewal in a city that once produced nearly half of Europe’s total steel”.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, they added: “Sheffield Forgemasters shows how our Aukus partnership can benefit local economies across Yorkshire and across Britain and Australia.”
An anticipated 7,000 additional British jobs will be generated through the submarine programmes, and at the peak there will be more than 21,000 people working on the UK supply chain.
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Hide AdEarlier in the year, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard launched the UK Steel Charter from Forgemasters, saying: “We were the first to mass produce steel, we were the first to be an advanced manufacturing innovation district and now we’re the UK’s first investment zone.”
The earliest references to steel-making in South Yorkshire date as far back as the 15th century, but it was 300 years later with Benjamin Huntsman’s invention of crucible steel in 1742 that the city began to capitalise on the Industrial Revolution.
Sheffield Forgemasters, near Meadowhall, traces its history back to a blacksmith forge in the 1750s.
It is one of Britain’s oldest companies, becoming a fully commercial enterprise in 1805.
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Hide AdIt had been struggling for years as the British steel industry was being undercut by competitors in countries such as China and India.
In 2021, the government nationalised it in a £2.6 million deal to secure the supply of parts that are vital for the Royal Navy.
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