The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to unveil long-awaited good news for shipbuilders on the Clyde today.

Unions hope that the announcement will be confirmation of a date to start work building eight Type 26 frigates - almost six months after steel was due to be cut.

The project has been hit by repeated delays, alongside warnings that up to 800 jobs could be lost.

Union leaders threatened large-scale industrial action after they were told in May that original plans to start had been postponed.

The Type 26 Global Combat Ships are due to be built by BAE Systems at its yards in Govan and Scotstoun.

But in June, the Conservative Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that no deal to build the warships would be signed until it offered "value for money".

The row has led to accusations that the Tory Government risks betraying commitments made before the 2014 independence referendum.

Then voters were told rejecting independence would protect thousands of shipbuilding jobs.

MoD ministers recently confirmed that the Government's review of shipbuilding would be published before this month’s Autumn Statement.

But SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes accused ministers of causing "enormous damage" with the delay and said the Clyde yards could not "wait any more".