“I can¿t help but feel that Joe of Plymouths observations regarding the fears of the Unions of potential job and more importantly skill losses is a bit like the curates egg - a little right and a little wrong so consequently is; as an observation, wrong. Indeed his own comments regarding replacing the Trident fleet could also be seen as cheap scaremongering. Irrespective of an individuals political interpretation or analysis of the situation a compromise, which satisfies no one and solves no real defence issues, will be cobbled together as a face saving exercise once the various vested interests have all had their time in the limelight.
The simple facts are that as long as Plymouth is reliant on government funded activities such as the dockyard, the university, local government or service based activities like holiday / entertainment etc we as a city will always be hardest hit by any downturn in the countries fortunes. We must focus more of our efforts on attracting and keeping emerging technologies outside the service sector. There were and have always been people n this city that have good and potentially profitable business ideas that have failed to secure the support from the people that matter who seem more interested in milking the cash cows that make up their business portfolios.”

“This is just cheap scaremongering from the unions. The first of the replacement submarines for Trident won't be in service until the mid 2020s at the earliest, so Trident's successor is irrelevant to the current situation. In fact, replacing Trident actually poses a threat to jobs at Plymouth, because it will suck huge sums of money out of the defence budget. This will take money away from the surface fleet and lead to ships being taken out of service - which is far more likely to lead to jobs being axed at the Naval dockyard.

The unions are, as usual, way out of touch with the public on this issue. A big majority of the public do not want Trident to be replaced, because at a time of government spending cuts they want to preserve local services (which, incidentally, generate far more jobs that work in the defence sector) instead of wasting it on new nuclear weapons. Even in Plymouth, there aren't many votes in calling for new nuclear weapons.”

“There is more to this than just losing jobs. Plymouth has been a military city for a very long time and our culture and mind set has revolved around the military. If Plymouth stops being a military city what will replace it. I am proud to be from Plymouth and I am proud of its military history.
The British Government needs to rethink the whole picture and not just about economics. Come on Plymouth you need to let the Government know exactly how you as a city feel. Don't leave it up to the elected officials.”

“RAF Tornadoes facing axe! Trident under threat! Army to take over Marines.
We will no longer have any means of defending our country. PLEASE WAKE UP OUR GOVERNMENT.It's to late when it's all OVER.”