THE GMB union has called on SNP ministers to deliver pre-election promises by securing the future of Scottish government-owned shipbuilder Ferguson Marine.

Former deputy first minister Kate Forbes announced the direct award of four new contracts earlier this year, for two small ferries and two fishery protection vessels, but none have yet been issued.

So far the yard has seen little of the £14.2 million modernisation investment promised by the government two years ago.

Warning that any further delays and uncertainty could lead to a “drain of skills and experience” from the industry, GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said: “These contracts were fanfared by the Scottish government right before an election campaign, but weeks are turning into months without news or apparent progress.

“Ferguson’s does not have the luxury of time to allow more boxes to be ticked at Holyrood. It needs work now.

“The communities of Port Glasgow have not forgotten the promises made before the Scottish election and will not forgive ministers if those promises are broken.

“This yard has been building excellent small ships for 100 years and it beggars belief that an island nation cannot deliver a steady pipeline of work to a publicly owned yard.”

Warning further delay creates “more anxiety for workers,” Labour Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West MP Martin McCluskey said: “They deserve certainty, they deserve a pipeline of work, and they deserve a Scottish government that matches its promises with action.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said it was “working at pace to progress the necessary due diligence, legal, commercial and subsidy control assessments required to support the proposals to directly award four new vessel contracts to Ferguson Marine.”