Glasgow’s Ferguson Marine Engineering shipyard is to be nationalised to ensure delivery of two LNG-fuelled ropax ferries seen as vital to Scotland’s national interest.

A new public board of directors lead by Scotland’s economy secretary Derek MacKay is set to meet today to plan how to save the country’s last commercial shipyard.

The Port Glasgow yard has been forced into administration by heavy cost overruns building two ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne which serves Scotland’s remote west coast island communities.