SCOTTISH ministers must “sharpen our elbows” in the fight for green jobs, a union campaigning for the survival of renewable infrastructure firm Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) said today.

The Scottish government announced that it would host an offshore wind power summit jointly with the British government in Edinburgh next month.

They will be joined by trade unions, offshore wind developers and supply chain companies.

SNP Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will co-host the summit on May 2 with Westminster’s Tory Energy Minister Claire Perry.

Mr Mackay said: “Scotland has all the natural resources required to make it an ideal location for offshore wind, but we need to ensure our economy isn’t missing out from key contracts going overseas.”

But general union GMB, whose members at the BiFab yards in Fife and the Hebrides have been laid off thanks to a lack of orders, said ministers must be “far more aggressive and restless in defending Scotland’s interests.”

GMB and Unite members occupied the yards to save their jobs in 2017, prompting a government intervention.

But troubles have continued, with renewables contracts instead going abroad and the Fife yards mothballed.

GMB Scottish secretary Gary Smith told the Star: “The Scottish Parliament has indulged itself far too long in empty promises about a green jobs revolution.

“Thousands of jobs and billions of pounds from massive offshore wind farm projects are commanded by European and Middle East competitors. 

“For the sake of working-class communities … we need to sharpen our elbows in the fight for renewables manufacturing jobs.”

World Wildlife Fund Scotland welcomed the summit, saying it was “vital that action is taken to ensure we maximise the opportunities in sectors like offshore wind to grow further the jobs and economic benefits to Scotland.”