THE Unionist promise of the Type 31e light frigate order coming to Scotland's shipyards had already been broken – but now the process has fallen even further into shambles.

It emerged late last year that BAE Systems had signed a deal with Cammell Laird to “prime, build and assemble” the vessels at their Birkenhead base, rather than in Scotland as had been expected.

Indeed, Ruth Davidson herself, during the 2016 Holyrood election campaign, promised that the "light frigate order" would be coming to the Clyde.

"They're coming to the Clyde, as discussed last year, to the same timetable and the same number," she said.

The BAE Systems deal would have meant the firm providing design and combat systems services, with construction left to the English team.

The acquisition process saw BAE Systems/Cammell Laird competing against Babcock/Team 31 as frontrunners.

And the Ministry of Defence was seeking bids able to meet the cost of £250 million per ship, along with wider requirements.

Now, they've suspended the process entirely, citing "insufficient compliant bids for an effective and robust competition".

In other words, the Ministry of Defence were asking the impossible and have finally accepted that fact.

They're now making plans for a new procurement competition, though meeting the target in-service date of 2023 has been left looking very unlikely.

This latest move serves as yet more evidence that those in charge of the process are in chaos ... and that the Union is failing on its shipbuilding promises.

And it's worth revisiting the words of Duncan McPhee, a senior shop steward with the Unite union at BAE Systems at Scotstoun, said amid news of the BAE Systems deal last year.

“We are not happy, these are ships we would have expected to be built on the Clyde," he said.

“As far as we are concerned they should have been part of the 13-ship package we were clearly promised.

“We were told then we would have the order for 13 frigates. Now we are down to eight and the five cut-price frigates, which will not be built here.”

At this rate, we won't see the five cut-price frigates being built anywhere...