Swinney did nothing to save Alexander Dennis despite warning, says Sarwar

John Swinney has been accused of doing “nothing” to save jobs at bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis despite being warned by the company a year ago that it could move operations to England.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the First Minister’s claims that he found out about the issues facing the firm only weeks ago were “not true”.

Up to 400 jobs have been put at risk after the manufacturer announced plans to move operations in Falkirk and Larbert to a single site in Scarborough in North Yorkshire. It comes after more than 400 jobs were lost at the nearby Grangemouth refinery.

In a letter from last August, Paul Soubry, president and chief executive of Alexander Dennis’s parent company, NFI, told Mr Swinney: “We are regretfully left with the impression through recent developments that the Scottish Government has little regard for domestic bus manufacturing jobs in Scotland and we have no choice but to reconsider our entire investment in the Scottish operations of Alexander Dennis.”

During FMQs, Mr Sarwar accused the SNP leader of being responsible for the lost jobs.

He said: “Last week, John Swinney claimed that he became aware of issues facing Alexander Dennis a few weeks ago and was doing what he could to help the company.

“But that is not true. John Swinney received a letter almost a year ago directly from the company setting out how his decision to buy buses from China, instead of from Scotland, was putting the company and jobs at risk.

“He did nothing for the skilled workforce. But, last week, as usual, he tried to find someone else to blame for his own failure by talking about UK procurement laws, laws that did not stop Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from buying Scottish buses, but somehow stops this SNP Scottish Government.

“Since that warning almost a year ago, how many buses has the SNP Government ordered from Scottish companies?”

Mr Sarwar said that since the letter in August, the Scottish Government had ordered zero buses from the company as he accused Mr Swinney of “waffle”.

The Scottish Labour leader previously said that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham had ordered nearly five times the number of buses from Alexander Dennis than the Scottish Government.

Mr Swinney dismissed that suggestion, saying his Government had secured 360 vehicles through Scottish Government funding programmes, compared to the 160 orders for Manchester.

Mr Swinney acknowledged the letter which he said was followed by a meeting in September.

“As a consequence of that interaction, we established work for Scottish Enterprise with the company to support the company in securing its future,” he said.

“That work was taken forward as a consequence of that dialogue, and obviously, the company then contacted us in the course of the past few weeks with their more immediate situation.”

He said Alexander Dennis had “expressed their appreciation” with Scottish Government support, including £58 million for zero emission buses.

He added that discussions with the company to save the jobs are ongoing.