A SENIOR Scottish Government minister is to join a cross-party summit in Inverclyde to help secure the future of Ferguson Marine.

Mairi McAllan, the wellbeing economy secretary, has agreed to attend the talks next month on how to deliver new contracts for the Port Glasgow shipyard.

The move has been welcomed by Ferguson Marine’s GMB convenor Alex Logan at the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) in Dundee today.

GMB Scotland, the biggest union at the yard, is staging the talks after helping to secure all-party support for forging a new future for Ferguson Marine after the contracts for two the two dual fuel CalMac ferries were blighted by delays and overspends.

In a speech calling for the protection of public service ferry services, Mr Logan said the discussions must offer urgent reassurance to a workforce that is skilled, committed and blameless for the problems that have beset the two ferries.

He  called on ministers to award a contract for seven small CalMac ferries to the yard urgently to safeguard skills and protect jobs crucial to the economy of communities across Inverclyde.

He said: “We have been clear to the Scottish Government that if they want to secure a future for the yard and jobs there, then it needs investment to modernise the yard and make it more competitive.

“We need a direct award of the small ferries which we have a track record in building, and continued public ownership.

“Like many of the workers at Ferguson Marine before me, I have been a shipbuilder there all of my life. What we are fighting for now is the future of the generations to come.”

The yard is currently in the final stages of building and delivering the overdue and overbudget Glen Rosa and Glen Sannox ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne.

At an initial summit staged by GMB Scotland six months ago, a cross-party alliance of MPs, MSPs, council leaders and shipyard executives agreed Ferguson's has potential to play a central role in an industrial strategy for Scotland but urged ministers to invest in its future.

A further round of talks is now set to be staged in Inverclyde next month, with Ms McAllan among the attendees.

Ms McAllan attended the recent launch of Glen Rosa last week when she promised the Scottish Government would continue to support the publicly-owned yard and its workforce.

She said: "The Scottish Government stands with the workers of Ferguson Marine and the community of Port Glasgow and Inverclyde.

“We stood behind you at nationalisation, we stand behind you today as your work comes to fruition and we stand with you long into the future."