(West Scotland)
(Lab):
Last week, the First Minister agreed
with me that strategic intervention in the aerospace sector would
be required to save Rolls-Royce jobs at Inchinnan. Today,
plans have been announced to axe 700 jobs, which would be
devastating for the workers and the west of Scotland economy. It
would also be a blow to manufacturing, and the end
of Rolls-Royce maintenance, repair and
overhaul operations in Scotland. We cannot let that
happen.
Will the Scottish Government work with
the trade unions to put pressure on Rolls-Royce to think again? Is the
Scottish Government prepared to make significant financial
support available to the sector now? Will the First Minister
agree to establish a cross-party aerospace and aviation task
force to ensure a co-ordinated collective approach to support
those sectors and save those jobs?
The First Minister ():
I agree in general terms with
everything that said. The news that workers
at Rolls-Royce in Inchinnan will have got
this morning is absolutely devastating, and my thoughts are
very much with all of them and their families today.
The Scottish Government will
continue to do everything that we possibly can to get a more
positive outcome. Those jobs are important, the Rolls-Royce facility is important and
advanced manufacturing is very important for the Scottish
economy now, as it will be in the future.
I will respond quickly to the
various parts of Neil Bibby’s question. As we always do in
these situations, we will work very closely with trade unions.
I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and
Culture to look at pulling together a cross-party approach so
that we can all work together to try to protect and safeguard
those jobs.
On financial interventions, we will
consider all options, as we have done previously. I note for
the record that we have to operate within state aid constraints
and, of course, we are accountable to taxpayers for the use of
taxpayer money. However, we always look for ways in which we
can protect jobs and important manufacturing facilities such as
this. I will ask the economy secretary to correspond further
with , and with others across the
chamber who have an interest, so that we can try to bring
together, as far as we can, a team Scotland approach to
safeguarding those jobs, if it is at all possible to do
so.
