Concerns about investment and the long term viability of the last remaining shipyards in Glasgow appear to come around as often as a ship launch on the River Clyde.

No sooner has the UK Defence Secretary, Scottish Secretary, various Admirals and Sea Lords descended on the Govan yard to bask in the glory of ceremonially cutting steel on the latest order to guarantee jobs than another warning shot is fired.

With the Type 26 Frigates the yards have a future well into the next decade but as always the outlook after that is not as certain.

The UK Government says it is committed to the yards but owners BAE have scaled back original plans for investment in a “frigate factory” and now warn that any ideas about pre-determined budgets will put the viability of the business at risk.

For decades now the workers at the yard continue to battle for survival.

They get the orders and they do the job, turning out top class warships.

They keep their side of the deal every time. They have endured job losses to keep the yards afloat and agreed to changes to ensure the operation is as modern and efficient as possible.

What is missing is serious long term thinking that would put an end to uncertainty.

The plans for a one yard site at Scotstoun with a £200m investment was halved to £100m over the two yards which allows it to build the eight frigates for the Royal Navy.

There are another five Type 31 Frigates in the pipeline but the Government has not yet revealed where they will be built.

Where else will they build them?

The issue of the halving of the £200m investment seems small scale when you consider that each of these frigates to be built will cost almost half a billion each.

The investment would also have paved the way for other orders possible even non naval, commercial work.

Compared to other countries the cash put into shipbuilding is behind that of other countries.

Instead of making the business and the workers sweat every time there is an order to be placed why not give the certainty that allows the management to invest in the future instead of living order to order, making only the changes necessary to compete for and complete the work.

The economic importance of the Govan and Scotstoun yards for Glasgow and the west of Scotland cannot be emphasised enough.

It is not just the livelihood of the more than 3000 skilled workers are employed at the two BAE yards in Glasgow that are at stake every time an order process comes around

There is the future of the more than 150 apprentices on one of the most prestigious training courses in the country who will be learning their crafts on the Frigates but then will be reliant on future orders for their careers.

Beyond the shipyard gates there are an estimated 6000 jobs in the firms that supply the yards with goods and services.

Every job in the yards is believed to support another 1.8 jobs outside worth £162m a year in wages.

That must be protected not just for the nest 20 years but the next century.