WORK got under way on Cammell Laird’s £44m aircraft carrier project yesterday with a Government minister dismissing as “absurd” a claim that the Queen Elizabeth may not enter service due to budget cuts.

Earlier this month Ian King, chief executive of BAE, one of four members of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA) overseeing the construction of the Queen Elizabeth and sister ship the Prince of Wales, said both carriers would probably be completed – but might not go into active service with the Royal Navy.

But yesterday Minister for International Security Strategy Gerald Howarth officially commenced work on the Birkenhead yard’s project by starting the crane that laid the first of the bulkheads into place on the ship’s giant flight deck. He then dismissed speculation about the vessel’s operational future.

He said: “I very much doubt the UK is going to complete a 65,000 tonne ship and not use it.

“I think that would be absurd.”

Bebington-born Rear Admiral Phillip Jones also expressed his confidence that Queen Elizabeth will survive the current defence spending review which should deliver its findings by October.

He said: “We are in the middle of a spending review so speculation is understandable, particularly with contracts that are under way at the moment, so it is important not to have that speculation about Queen Elizabeth.

“But this is a contract being run very well by the ACA.

“The ship is ordered, but more importantly there’s a clearly identified role for the Queen Elizabeth in the future, not just five or 10 years but 50 years, so I think on all these tests she comes out pretty well.

“But there are difficult decisions to be taken and the review will get to all those decisions and we will find out in due course.”