SNP ministers have been urged to develop a new industrial strategy to prevent "devastating" job losses.

Scottish Labour finance spokesman Daniel Johnson said the very existence of Scotland's industrial base is at risk.

In a letter to SNP Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, he highlighted the scale of job losses facing Scotland and criticised "inaction" by the Scottish Government.

He said: "Without action now, we risk the very existence of Scotland's industrial base at the expense of thousands of jobs.

"The SNP's complete lack of a coherent industrial plan has put thousands of jobs at risk and their scattergun approach to intervention has failed workers and businesses time and time again.

"With jobs across Scotland on the line, we simply cannot afford more inaction from the Scottish Government.

"Today, Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP to work with us, trade unions and businesses to develop a coherent industrial strategy to save jobs and protect our industrial base."

Mr Johnson's letter references the proposed closure of the McVitie's biscuit factory in Glasgow's east end.

Owner Pladis wants to shut the Tollcross plant in the second half of next year, with unions urging the UK and Scottish governments to take action.

The letter adds: "This proposed business closure is just another in a long list of threats to jobs in Scotland.

"We have seen previous industry closures putting hundreds of Scottish livelihoods at risk in the past, such as Michelin Tyres in Dundee and Kaiam in Livingston.

"The pandemic has already caused wide scale job losses and the on-going economic uncertainty will continue to plague Scotland's workers, especially for those 269,800 people who are still on furlough.

"Whilst we welcome the recent report that shows an increase in foreign direct investment in 2020, it is far from ideal that the number of Scottish jobs generated by these projects was down by 30.1 per cent on the year.

"These closures and the inaction of the Scottish Government to generate and protect jobs shows the need for urgent and radical changes to how Scotland's economy is run.

"Loss of skilled jobs are devastating to local economies and inflict financial strains on individuals and families.

"This in turn leads to less revenue raised, affecting the overall Scottish budget and deepening cuts to our essential services.

"The Scottish Labour Party firmly believe that a strategy for industry should be a top priority for the Scottish Government, and never has it been more important than right now when we are trying to regenerate Scotland's economy."

A Scottish Government spokesman said it is determined to use the coronavirus crisis "as a catalyst to address some of the deep-seated inequalities that exist in our economy".

He said: "We are determined to do everything within our current powers to protect jobs and to help Scotland's economy on its path to a strong and lasting recovery. We moved swiftly with business and trades union leaders to shape economic recovery plans and priorities for Scotland and we are delivering with support for quality green jobs, digital growth and the launch of the Scottish National Investment Bank.

"In the first six months of this parliament we will deliver a new 10-year National Strategy for Economic Transformation, setting out the steps we will take to deliver a green economic recovery and support businesses and industries for the future.

"Working with industry, trade unions and economists we will create a new Council for Economic Transformation to shape this strategy and guide the implementation of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

"We want to encourage pioneers and entrepreneurs to help reshape the Scottish economy, which is why as part of the economic transformation we will deliver a National Challenge competition, providing funding of up to £50 million to the project or projects with the greatest potential to transform Scotland.

"The Scottish Government is determined to use this crisis as a catalyst to address some of the deepseated inequalities that exist in our economy, delivering a greener, fairer and more inclusive wellbeing economy for Scotland, where everyone can flourish."