Scottish politicians called for a concerted effort yesterday to wean the shipbuilding industry off its reliance on warship contracts.

It followed 1,200 workers at BAE Systems being told they will lose their jobs because of a "significant" decline in Ministry of Defence contracts.

Nearly a third of the firm's employees in Scotland face redundancy, alongside hundreds more in Portsmouth and Bristol.

Govan and Scotstoun on the Clyde and a third site at Rosyth in Fife are among the sites hit.

SNP Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the "devastating" decision showed that a "sustainable shipbuilding industry" couldn't be "solely dependent on naval contracts."

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the news must not be used as "a political football."

He urged: "All efforts must focus on support for the workers, their families and the wider community and the long-term prospects for industry on the Clyde."

STUC policy officer Stephen Boyd said it would like to see firms move beyond weapons development but added that the history of such ventures in Scotland was "not a happy one."

"Diversification into, for instance, commercial shipbuilding would require the industry to be treated as a nascent industry, with all the support and protection that implies.

"To do this requires nothing less than the complete reversal of 30 years of economic development policy orthodoxy," he said.