Around 250 jobs will be slashed at the site where two Royal Navy aircraft carriers have been created.

Babcock International Group is cutting the roles at Rosyth Dockyard in Fife.

The decision has been made due to a reduction in work following the creation of the HMS Queen Elizabeth while the HMS Prince of Wales also nears completion.

The project to build both ships will cost more than £6bn.

As it nears completion, the company has revealed it is to now cut 250 roles.

A spokesman said: "The prospects for Babcock's operations at Rosyth remain good. The last ten years of the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) carrier programme has been an outstanding success story.

"Unfortunately, given the one-off nature of this large-scale programme, as the ships begin to be handed over to our customer we must inevitably reshape our business to remain competitive and take on new challenges, which we firmly believe exist for Rosyth.

"However, medium-term opportunities cannot compensate for the 250 or so specific roles and capabilities no longer needed with the slowdown of the QEC work."

He added: "Our employees are our priority throughout this process, we understand how unsettling this news may be and we will work closely with those affected and our trade union representatives through this consultation period to redeploy or relocate as many employees as possible within our wider organisation and support those who wish to take this opportunity to move on."

The 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth is the largest warship built in Britain and is expected to be the Navy's flagship craft for at least 50 years.

Its sister ship, HMS Prince of Wales, is expected to enter service in 2019 after contractors complete work on the vessel.

The spokesman added: "We remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our workforce that supports both our current and future operational needs.

"In fact, looking to the future we have recently taken on our yearly intake of apprentices and graduates, underlining our focus of developing and delivering the best solutions in the most effective ways for our customers."