MORE than 200 jobs are to go at Rolls Royce plants in two Scottish communities.

Staff were told yesterday 187 posts are going at Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, which manufactures aircraft engines, reducing shop floor workers by a third. About 50 per cent will go this year with the rest in 2016.

Another 31 will be lost at the repair and maintenance base at East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire during this year.

Unions hit out at the cuts, which come on top of the 500 already lost at the Renfrewshire site since 2007.

Debbie Hutchings, of Unite, said: "These cuts are a huge loss of skills to the Scottish economy and will lead to a further hollowing out of the company's skills base

"Decent jobs are being taken out of the local economy in a short-term move which will undermine Scottish engineering.

"There is every danger that Rolls-Royce will shoot itself in the foot with this move and face a skills shortage when there is an upturn in orders.

In November last year, Rolls-Royce announced it is planning to cut 2,600 jobs over the next 18 months, with most to disappear in the aerospace division during this year.

A Rolls-Royce spokeswoman said they would aim to seek voluntary redundancies, where possible. She said: "We will also explore all mitigation including redeployment to other sites and are offering full support to employees who are impacted by the changes."