Babcock, the company that operates both the Rosyth and Devonport dockyards, has indicated that it is prepared to move the overhaul work from Devonport, which has a comparatively full order book, to Rosyth, where on Monday 250 potential job losses were announced.

However, it appears that the MoD wishes the work to be carried out at Devonport or Falmouth on the basis of the crews choice not to have to travel to Rosyth, this despite the fact that due to workloading it's likely the work would be completed quicker in Rosyth than on the south coast.

"On behalf of those members who are facing a bleak Christmas at risk of redundancy, Prospect is more than disappointed at this decision by the MoD, which seems to be based on crew convenience, rather than any sensible economic or workload metrics," said Richard Hardy, Prospect national secretary for Scotland.

"Any work coming into Rosyth will assist us in staving off job losses, and keeping people in employment is in my view more important than the dislike of ships crew for having to get a train to Rosyth. Our members at Devonport are already working flat out, and would need to be assisted by staff from Rosyth to complete the overhaul. It makes total sense for this overhaul to come to Rosyth."

Hardy continued: "We've already raised this issue with John Howie and the Babcock Marine senior management team and we will now start to lobby on this issue with our contacts in MoD, in Westminster and at Holyrood. We're not unsympathetic to employees having to take long train journeys but saving jobs has to come first."