NO final decision has been made about whether or not to mothball two Barrow-built Royal Navy assault ships, a minister has insisted.

Newspaper reports have suggested that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark could be retired to free up sailors for other vessels, amid a recruitment crisis.

Retiring the warships would free up more than 200 sailors to crew new ships in Britain’s fleet, reports said.

Richard Drax, Conservative MP for South Dorset, told MPs: "One decision he could make to support the defence jobs would be to retain HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. Could he reassure the House and the Royal Marines, and the Royal Navy and the armed forces that these two vital ships will be kept and not in operation and not mothballed?"

Defence minister James Cartlidge replied: "What I would say is no final decision has been made on these platforms. I know there has been a lot of coverage in the press and a lot of chatter inevitably. I know how important they are to our service personnel, but I want to reassure him that we are looking at this in the round.

"But in terms of jobs we are absolutely committed to supporting defence jobs across the piece. Obviously we have recruitment challenges in terms of our personnel but we also have to support British industry and that is why we have the Secretary of State leading in his role as shipbuilding tsar."

Ordered for the Royal Navy on 18 July 1996, Albion was launched in March 2001 by the Princess Royal. Her sister ship, Bulwark, was launched in November 2001, also from Barrow