The expected two-year delay in bringing the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers into service will not be bad news for the Govan and Rosyth shipyards contracted to start building the vessels early next year, according to a Scottish MP.

The expected two-year delay in bringing the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers into service will not be bad news for the Govan and Rosyth shipyards contracted to start building the vessels early next year, according to a Scottish MP.

With the Ministry of Defence considering delaying the carriers' entry into service by up to two years, Glasgow South West MP Ian Davidson said that spreading the contracts over a longer period of time would avoid a steep fall in production when the ships are finished and mean less sub-contracting of work out of the Scottish yards.

The £4bn carrier project is one of the largest items in the Ministry of Defence programme, which is being reviewed by ministers looking for cash savings. An announcement is expected before parliament rises for the Christmas break on December 18.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are due to be in service by 2014 and 2016 respectively, and will be the biggest and most powerful surface warships ever constructed for the Royal Navy. Defence Secretary John Hutton is considering delaying the Queen Elizabeth's in-service date by 12 months or the Prince of Wales's by up to two years.

"The continuity of working capacity will mean that the next contract, the destroyer replacement programme, might be coming on stream as the carriers are finished," said Mr Davidson. The contract for the carriers has been signed, design work has begun and construction of the first ship is due to start early next year.

Govan MSP Nicola Sturgeon said she was "very concerned" about the potential impact on jobs of any delay, coming in the wake of the early retirement of shipyard chief Vic Emery. She is to discuss her concerns with warship consortium BVT's management.