In today’s First Minister’s Questions, MSPs are discussing the news that up to 400 jobs are at risk at Scottish bus maker Alexander Dennis.
The company plans to close down its facilities at Larbert and Falkirk in light of strong competition from Chinese bus manufacturers whose market share has risen from 10% to 35%.
Director Colin Howden said:
It has been known for a long time that, short of government action, the likely endgame was the loss of Scottish/British bus manufacturing to unfair competition from China. Everyone knew this, and we ourselves said this a year ago.
So it’s truly dismal to see the proposed loss of Scottish bus manufacturing capacity devolve into squabbling in the Scottish Parliament over who should take the blame. Would it be too much to expect to see some concerted cross-party action take preference over political point-scoring?
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