Alex Salmond has invited the leaders of Scotland's political parties to cross party talks as part of efforts to save the Air craft carrier contracts at the Clyde and Rosyth shipyards.

Scotland's First Minister has written to all party leaders in the Parliament and will host talks on Monday.

In his letter to the opposition leaders Mr Salmond says:

 "As I said in Parliament today, we should make a joint submission from all parties covering these core arguments, and this should be sent to the Secretary of State for Defence as soon as possible.  It would of course be open to individual parties to make their own submission in addition if desired.

“To facilitate this discussion, I have asked officials to arrange a joint meeting of party leaders or their designated representatives on Monday 13 September.  I appreciate that this is short notice, however this is required in order to allow for the submission to be sent to the UK Government early enough to have an impact.  I am content for there to be a joint meeting across all parties with the Secretary of State for Defence to discuss the joint submission, and have asked officials to explore this possibility with their counterparts in the Ministry of Defence."

Welcoming the First Minister's actions SNP MSP for Glasgow Bill Kidd said:

“At this time it is political consensus and cross party working that is
needed to support the workers in the Clyde yards and secure the carrier contracts.

"Jobs on the Clyde and in Rosyth are far more important than party
political arguments. 

“The SNP will continue to work with any party and any politicians that have the best interests of the yards and the workforce as their priority."