FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has been urged to help save the jobs of workers at a Glasgow meat factory threatened with closure.

Margaret Curran, Glasgow East Labour MP and Shadow Scottish Secretary, has asked Mr Salmond to visit the Freshlink Foods – formerly McKellar Watt – plant in Shettleston, where 150 staff have been given 90 days notice of redundancy.

Scottish Secretary Michael More has also been asked to visit and he has accepted.

The Shettleston factory, which is part of the ABP UK meat company, produces around 500 tonnes of frozen sausages and formed meats a week for retailers, including supermarkets.

The redundancy news came days after another meat company, Hall's of Broxburn, announced it was closing its factory in West Lothian, with the loss of 1700 jobs.

Mrs Curran said: "The people of Glasgow need urgent and immediate assistance from the Government. The East End of Glasgow cannot afford to lose these jobs.

"The workers in Glasgow extend their deepest sympathy to colleagues in Broxburn who face a similar fate.

"But they expect the same emergency response to save their jobs and expect this response today."

However, Shettleston SNP MSP John Mason said Scottish Government agencies had been on site in an attempt to save the plant.

He said: "If she has been speaking to the factory, then she will know full well the Scottish Government's agencies have been working with Freshlink for over a year."