SCOTSTOUN politicians have hit out at the "betrayal" of Clyde shipyard workers as the UK shelves plans for new frigates.

The MoD had planned to order five Type 31e frigates for delivery by 2023 on top of the eight more sophisticated Type 26s already on the books of Glasgow yards.

But they were unable to secure any offers to build the ships at their maximum price of £250 million each.

In February last year, BAE Systems confirmed it would no longer invest in a major new outfitting hall at Scotstoun to build new frigates for the Royal Navy, which would have made the Type 31e project even cheaper.

BAE at Scotstoun is completing the offshore patrol vessels (OPV) while Govan has started work on the Type 26s.

Glasgow Anniesland MSP Bill Kidd said the design work for the 31e, which was to take place on the Clyde, was now in limbo.

He told the Post: "The drumbeat in the Glasgow yards must have reached an all-time slow rhythm and our much acknowledged skilled workforce must yet again be wondering where the next set of cuts will come from?

"Will there be yet another downward review of the entire workforce or certain parts thereof? With this delay the skilled drafting-team in the Scottish yards must be really concerned, and the knock on effect will raise concerns across the whole workforce.

"Are the trade unions still backing management’s claims that all is well? Had they been given briefings beforehand to assist them in calming the workforces concerns once this announcement was made, if so what light can they throw on this further delay?

"What else is in the pipeline for their members and, worse-case scenario, has anyone from management spoken the word 'redundancies'?

"If there was any time to reinforce the call to build the three Royal Navy supply ships here then this is it. But I fear Westminster has other ideas and none of them involve community impact, job security, or simply keeping their word.”

Glasgow north west MP Carol Monaghan said the news was the "latest betrayal".

She said: "Scotstoun and Govan are the only yards in the UK where a highly skilled workforce capable of building these ships exists, and that they were made to compete for the contracts in the first place was an insult in itself.

“The Tories’ thoughtless, stop-start defence procurement and the uncertainty it causes our world-class shipbuilders has gone on for too long, and is ultimately losing highly-skilled jobs and undermining our defence industry.

“We have no major surface vessels based in our waters, yet the Tories are content to drain our conventional defence budget dry – all while their £167billion obsession with Trident remains untouchable.

“The Tories need to get their act together, stick to the promises they’ve made the Clyde shipbuilders and invest in conventional defence capabilities.”

An MoD spokeswoman said: “There have been no changes in our plans to procure a first batch of five new Type 31e frigates to grow our Royal Navy.

“We still want the first ship delivered by 2023 and are confident that industry will meet the challenge of providing them for the price tag we’ve set.

“This is an early contract in a wider procurement process, and we will incorporate the lessons learned and begin again as soon as possible so the programme can continue at pace.”