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I was saddened by the recent announcement that shipbuilding workers in Portsmouth are to lose their jobs.

Because of the political debate that surrounds this bad news it seems fairly overlooked that 835 jobs will be lost at yards in Scotland too.

There were also two other sets of redundancies announced in the south this week but was overshadowed by the Portsmouth losses.

Inevitable overspill?

Whilst it is too early to say for sure - the Portsmouth jobs will be axed in the second half of 2014 - there will be the inevitable overspill into the self-employed sector, with new enterprises starting up in gardening and landscaping.

For the areas in and around Portsmouth especially there isn't a great deal of room for more competition in what is already a tight trading area. I cannot speak for Scotland but I'd be fairly confident that new enterprises will put significant pressure on existing businesses in the affected areas also.

I know our industry is a transient one by natrue with new start-ups coming in all the time and young businesses (and some old) closing because of competition, or just not being suitable for a life outdoors, but an unemployment blip on the scale that is to come will surely create even more pressure on supply and demand.

Of course, in the immediate turbulent times when the market will scramble to assert order, there will be pressure on prices. I think there will also be an issue with quality as newbies undercutting their more established competitors, trying to gain a foothold, will not have the necessary skills to deliver the right product.

In time, things will settle down with some of the newly formed businesses - perhaps even a majority - fall away due to unsuitability. Some established business, already stretched by the recession, will fall away too.

There will become, over time, a new order.