The future of two Clyde shipyards could be at risk if more Royal Navy orders are sent abroad, a report by MPs has warned.
The Scottish Affairs Committee is calling for "greater clarity" on where warships will be constructed in the next few decades.
The report comes after a £1.6billion contract for the manufacturing of three naval support ships was awarded to an international consortium - which will see some of the building work taking place in Spain, report the Daily Record.
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The last two shipyards on the Upper Clyde - Govan and Scotstoun- rely on receiving future orders from the Royal Navy.
Currently, they are working on the Type 26 frigate programme, but MPs are demanding to know what orders will be made in the 2030s
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: "Military shipbuilding is a major Scottish success story. From Rosyth to Glasgow, we have military shipbuilding hubs that boost local economies and invest in skills and training.”.
The committee chairman hailed a recent announcement that more Type 26 frigates are to be built by BAE Systems in Glasgow as being a “major vote of confidence in the Scottish shipbuilding sector”. But he added: "UK Government policy on military shipbuilding ebbs and flows.
"On the one hand, ministers are championing the skill and expertise the military shipbuilding sector thrives on in Scotland, but, on the other, its policies have opened up the ‘offshoring’ of warship production to other countries.
"The Government cannot have this both ways: a thriving shipbuilding sector is dependent on the drumbeat of orders. We have the skills and expertise here, in Scotland, to support our future military shipbuilding needs so it is unclear what benefit is to be had by opening up procurement to international competition.
"We hope the UK Government carefully considers our findings and recommendations, and in turn offer some certainty to the military shipbuilding sector in Scotland that its prominence in designing and building warships is here to stay."
A UK Government source told the Record: "The MOD spent more than £2 billion in Scotland in 2021/22 - much of which was invested in the Scottish shipbuilding industry. Committee members heard from defence expert Professor Keith Hartley of York University who said he did not see a future for a Scottish warship industry in an independent Scotland."
The MOD have been contacted for comment.
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