Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has said a government he leads will ensure that ferries and buses are built in Scotland.
The Member of the Scottish Government (MSP) for Glasgow said the Government must come up with a “coherent” industrial strategy to enable Scottish manufacturing firms to thrive. He added this in the wake of issues at the publicly owned shipyard of Ferguson Marine, which became nationalised in 2019, and bus firm Alexander Dennis.
The Edinburgh Government (last week) announced a £4 million furlough scheme for the bus company in the hopes of retaining the firm with its operations in Scotland. A combination of unions, local politicians, and civic leaders has urged the Parliament’s ministers to directly award a key contract for building a ferry at the Port Glasgow shipyard.
The GMB union, with a regional office in Glasgow, has coordinated an open letter urging the First Minister, John Swinney of the SNP, to hand the deal to Ferguson. The yard, which was rescued from administration six years ago, has since been mired in controversy relating to the considerably delayed and over-budget delivery of twin ferries for CaMac’s Isle of Arran route.
More IrelandLive has on the shipyard in southwest Scotland.
