'There's nothing to stop British warships being built on the Clyde'

When John Swinney and I met with BAE Systems directors and trades union representatives on Friday, we discussed the need to offer support for all those facing redundancy. Our pledge is that everything that can be done will be done.

I was struck that last week also marked the 40th anniversary of Margo MacDonald's famous Govan by-election victory, and how so often since then shipbuilding workers and their families have gone through the pain of uncertainty and speculation, redundancy and closure.

For me, the key lesson is the need to build a more diverse future for our shipyards. Naval vessels will always be an important part of the industry in Scotland, but it has become painfully clear that on its own it is not enough. As an industry - as a country - we need to internationalise, build the client base and boost exports.

This is difficult work - as I know because Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government's other agencies already work closely with BAE Systems.

But we owe it to the generations who have built the industry - and even more importantly to the generations still to come - to do more and to do it well.

We only have to look north to see what can be done. Norway is smaller than Scotland, yet its 42 shipyards built over 100 ships last year. We may not be able to reach these heights, and we can't turn the clock back - but as a country we should as a minimum maintain and develop what we have.

And we must do this regardless of the referendum result. That is why I deprecate Alistair Carmichael gloating in the Portsmouth press about the non-starter scenario of work on the new Type 26 ships being shifted from the Clyde to the south of England if we vote Yes.

The reality is that - compared to the days when Margo won Govan in 1973 - the UK's defence and industrial capabilities have been so diminished under successive Westminster governments that there is now nowhere else in these islands with the ready capacity to build complex warships.

The current UK Government has just agreed with BAE Systems that Portsmouth will cease building ships in 2014, and that Glasgow is "the most effective location for the manufacture of the future Type 26 ships." That will remain true, whether there is a Yes next year or not.

If Westminster is willing to work with Australia on design work for the Type 26 ships, it is even more straightforward to actually build them in the Clyde yards, which these self-same politicians have already agreed offers the best quality and value for money.

And there is nothing to prevent ships for the rest of the UK being built in an independent Scotland. In terms of not putting warships out to tender, the relevant EU article 346 says: "Any member state may take such measures as it considers necessary" - which is to say that if the UK Government awards a contract to BAE and, fully in accordance with the company strategy announced on Wednesday, BAE wishes to build the ships in its Clyde yards, nothing in Article 346 stops that from happening.

If Scotland does not become an independent country as a result of next year's referendum, I pledge to continue working with anyone and everyone in the best interests of our shipbuilding industry.

But I - and more importantly the workers themselves - demand no less a commitment from politicians who oppose independence, should there be a Yes vote. The No campaign still peddles a leaflet claiming that shipbuilding jobs in the very process of being lost under the Westminster system can only be saved by voting for the Westminster system.

An independent Scotland will have its own requirements for Type 26 ships and offshore patrol vessels. What a Yes vote also offers is an opportunity for a government with full economic powers to develop a shipbuilding strategy specifically for Scotland, in partnership with industry and workforce.