A dockyard involved in assembling the Royal Navy's new generation of aircraft carriers is set to lose 250 jobs.
The loss of skillled workers at Rosyth Dockyard was described as a "crushing blow" for the workforce by the SNP's defence procurement spokesman.
It follows the "slow-down" on the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier project at the Fife dock.
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Babcock confirmed the staff cuts at the Fife dockyard, where around 1,900 core staff are currently employed.
The firm said the posts are being dropped following a reduction in work as the £6 billion project for two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers approaches the finish line.
A Babcock spokesman said: “The prospects for Babcock’s operations at Rosyth remain good.
"The last ten years of the Queen Elizabeth class carrier programme has been an outstanding success story.
"Unfortunately, given the one-off nature of this large-scale programme, as the ships begin to be handed over to our customer, we must inevitably reshape our business to remain competitive and take on new challenges, which we firmly believe exist for Rosyth."
He added: "However, medium term opportunities cannot compensate for the 250 or so specific roles and capabilities no longer needed with the slow-down of the QEC work.
"Our employees are our priority throughout this process, we understand how unsettling this news may be and we will work closely with those affected and our trade union representatives through this consultation period to redeploy or relocate as many employees as possible within our wider organisation and support those who wish to take this opportunity to move on.
"We remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our workforce that supports both our current and future operational needs.
"In fact, looking to the future we have recently taken on our yearly intake of apprentices and graduates, underlining our focus of developing and delivering the best solutions in the most effective ways for our customers”.
Read more: Flagship vessel of Royal Navy fleet stuck in port after bad weather
Douglas Chapman, MP for Dunfermline and West Fife and SNP defence procurement spokesman, said: "It's a crushing blow for affected staff, particularly at this time of year.
"Only yesterday I asked the Secretary of State for Defence in Parliament what reassurances he can give to workers at Rosyth following the departure of the carriers and if he would visit Rosyth.
"Then less than 24 hours later this dreadful news is delivered to Dockyard workers. It was perhaps ironic that these jobs were lost on the day that the UK Government launched their new UK Industrial Strategy.
"However, in reply to my question the Secretary of State said he was 'incredibly grateful for the amazing work' the Rosyth workforce have done on the carriers - but people in my Constituency cannot live on a Tory Minister’s platitudes."
Read more: Flagship vessel of Royal Navy fleet stuck in port after bad weather
He added: "They need follow-on contracts and this latest news underlines the importance of continuing the fight for Type31e frigates, fleet auxiliary ships and the carrier contracts to come to Rosyth.
"In the meantime. I will be following up on yesterday’s Commons question and ask him to join me in Rosyth to tie down exactly what contracts can come to Rosyth so we do not lose any more of the skills, talent and dedication of the workforce here in West Fife.”
Labour MP Lesley Laird, shadow Scottish secretary, said: "This is a bitter blow for workers in Rosyth and underlines again the need for a proper shipbuilding strategy which avoids these fluctuations in the workforce.
"Coming in the week that the UK government announced an industrial strategy it shows that protecting jobs for the long term has not been high enough up the agenda.
"This underlines the need for the government to play a much bigger role in our economy, creating and protecting well paid, high skills jobs for the long term."
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