A shipyard is to shut despite its owner being offered a £60m contract by the MoD. Staff at Appledore Shipyard in Devon have been told by owner Babcock that it will close by the end of March 2019.

The formal acquisition of Harland & Wolff’s four UK shipyards is expected to be ratified on Wednesday when senior figures from the Spanish-owned Navantia visit Belfast to meet workers. Parent company ...

It also owns the Appledore shipyard in Devon, with a total of around 1500 workers. Both the GMB and Unite, representing workers at the Harland and Wolff fabrication yards in Lewis and in Fife ...