CLYDESIDE yards will not be involved in building a new batch of navy vessels after bosses signed a deal with Merseyside rivals, it has emerged.

A Glasgow MP accused the UK Government of "jeopardising the future" of the local industry last night after the news emerged.

Before the 2014 referendum, ministers urged workers on Clydeside to vote No or miss out on a major Ministry of Defence order for 13 Type 26 frigates.

The number was later reduced to eight, prompting union claims that members had been lied to.

It was suggested that skilled teams in Glasgow would get a share of work on the manufacture of five smaller Type 31e patrol vessels.

Just last month the government suggested the ships could be "shared between yards and assembled at a central hub", as with the HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was constructed in blocks in six cities before assembly in Rosyth.

But yesterday it emerged that Scotland looks set to miss out on manufacturing, with the work to be carried out by staff at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead instead.

BAE Systems, which owns Glasgow's two remaining yards, has signed a deal with the commercial shipbuilder that would see it providing design and combat systems services and leave construction to the English team.

The partnership will now proceed with a bid for the £125bn order.

BAE Systems insisted its "shipbuilding capacity on the Clyde will be full until the mid-2030s" and Iain Stevenson, managing director of its naval ships arm, commented: “Type 31e is an exciting and important programme.

"Our expertise in warship design and engineering, combat management systems and export campaigns means we are in a great position to contribute to the success of this programme."

However, Glasgow South MP Stewart McDonald, the SNP's defence spokesperson, called the news "another slap in the face for Clyde yards", adding: "The Tories cannot be trusted on shipbuilding. We have the skills, the expertise, the infrastructure in Scotland, but what we have also had is years of promises from Westminster that have been broken. A key component of a steady stream of work for Scottish shipbuilding is this new T31e smaller frigate.

"The suggestion that they will be built elsewhere is of real concern."

In its statement, BAE Systems said its employees are "delivering flexible, next generation platform engineering and combat systems’ design, integration and security technologies that Royal Navy crew members can rely on".

A senior MOD source said: “It’s really disappointing that the SNP don’t have the confidence in Scottish shipbuilding to win these contracts.”

Meanwhile, Cammell Laird chief executive officer John Syvret said: “Cammell Laird has very much welcomed the national shipbuilding strategy and the Type 31e competition. We will offer a UK warship design, a UK combat system, a UK build and a supply chain with high UK content.

"We will be working with BAE Systems and A&P to deliver certainty, speed and agility on this nationally important project. Cammell Laird is proud to be responding as a prime contractor for Type 31e.”

An MOD spokesperson said: “The Defence Secretary gave 20 years of work to the Clyde this summer, safeguarding over 4,000 Scottish jobs, when he announced the £3.7bn contract for the first three of eight cutting-edge Type 26 frigates.

"No other industry anywhere in the country has that level of certainty and, as a result of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the yard is able to compete for the lighter Type 31e frigate too.”