"Considers" is a good vague political word.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-c...norwegian-gap/
UK considers new Clyde frigate order to plug Norwegian gap
The UK will need to place additional Type 26 frigate orders after the government confirmed that build slots currently allocated to the Royal Navy are being transferred to Norway, leaving a gap that has not yet been addressed and which will be a consideration of the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan.
The detail emerged in a parliamentary answer from Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard on 22 April, in which he set out the number of Royal Navy frigates ordered across four distinct periods, confirming that 24 were ordered between 1980 and 1997, none between 1997 and 2010, 13 between 2010 and 2024 across both Type 26 and Type 31 programmes, and none since the current government took office on 5 July 2024, adding that of those slots “a number have been ceded as part of the Norwegian deal” and that “the delta is yet to be made up through additional orders, and this will be a consideration of the Defence Investment Plan.”
The transfer was first officially confirmed in February, when Pollard told parliament the UK was “working together with our Norwegian partners” and “assessing options for offering Type 26 build slots currently allocated to the Royal Navy to the Royal Norwegian Navy.”
At that point Pollard also confirmed the Royal Navy’s total would not be reduced, stating “the Royal Navy will receive all eight Type 26 ships during the late 2020s and 2030s as planned”, and describing the intended outcome as a combined fleet of “eight British and at least five Norwegian” ships operating jointly in northern Europe where “the only difference between a Royal Navy Type 26 and a Norwegian Type 26 will be the language on the signs.”
The eight-ship commitment has nonetheless come under scrutiny, with Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison telling the Commons that “well-placed sources are suggesting that the number of Type 26 hulls on the order book may be reduced or transferred to our Norwegian allies”, and asking Pollard to “confirm that there are no such plans and that we will proceed with a minimum of eight Type 26 frigates, particularly given the increase in Russian submarine activity” discussed earlier that week, to which Pollard replied “I can indeed.”
The commitment was further reaffirmed in a written answer from Al Carns MP in March 2026, who confirmed that “the Type 26 programme will deliver eight anti-submarine warfare frigates for the Royal Navy, which are designed primarily for operations in the North Atlantic and will form a core component of the Atlantic Bastion concept.”
The position as it stands is therefore that the Royal Navy’s eight-ship requirement is confirmed and has been stated repeatedly at ministerial level, that at least one hull already in build is expected to be reallocated to Norway to meet the Norwegian requirement for early delivery, and that the additional orders needed to replace those slots and get the UK back to eight have not yet been placed, with the Defence Investment Plan the stated vehicle for resolving that, a document that was originally expected last autumn and for which no publication date has yet been announced.