#BelfastLough - A bid has been placed by Belfast yard Harland & Wolff on a £1.25bn MoD shipbuilding scheme. According to the Belfast Telegraph, the UK Government wants to build five new ships, each worth £250m.

In September, the newspaper reported that Titanic-builder Harland & Wolff, which once employed 35,000 workers at its peak back in the 1920s, but now is down to a workforce of 115, said it hoped to be in the running for work on the ships.

Now, according to the Financial Times, it is teaming up with companies, including weapons firm Thales — which employs more than 500 people in Belfast — to bid for constructon of the ships.

Last year, David McVeigh, head of sales and marketing at Harland and Wolff Heavy Industries, said: "H&W have supported the development of the National Shipbuilding Strategy and look forward to engaging further with the Ministry of Defence and industry partners in an effort to secure work on the T31e programme and create shipbuilding jobs".

For more on the story, click here.