Alexander Dennis job losses ‘another SNP failure’ says Anas Sarwar

The potential closure of bus maker Alexander Dennis' Scottish factories is “another result of SNP failure”, Anas Sarwar has said.

Accusing ministers of not doing enough to protect Scottish manufacturing, the Scottish Labour leader highlighted Manchester mayor Andy Burnham “has bought almost four times as many buses” from the company than the government.

First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply concerned” about the proposed closure of the two factories in Falkirk and Larbert.

He said his government was engaging with the company and with the UK Government, but was limited in what support it could provide due to UK subsidy laws.

Up to 400 jobs are at risk as the firm looks to move its manufacturing operations to a site in England.

Alexander Dennis managing director Paul Davies said the move was necessary to “drive efficiency” and remain competitive in a market facing serious challenge from Chinese electric bus manufacturers.

Davies added: “It is extremely regrettable that as part of this, we must place jobs at potential risk of redundancy and propose to cease manufacturing operations at some of our facilities.”

Sarwar said Swinney had shown “weak leadership” on the issue, with the Scottish Government having ordered just 44 buses from the firm compared to 160 bought by the Bee Network in Greater Manchester.

He also pointed to Scottish firms losing out on other manufacturing contracts, including steel for bridges bought from China and ferry tenders going to Poland and Turkey.

Sarwar said: “All they want to do is manufacture grievance and all they offer is waste and incompetence. They have the powers and they have the money – but as always, they want to blame someone else.”

Swinney pointed to £58m of funding provided to Alexander Dennis via the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund.

But he added that the Subsidy Control Act “does not allow” the government to incentive local awards. 

He said: “We are engaging very closely with the United Kingdom government… We are going to do everything we can to find a way through the Subsidy Control Act provisions so that the government can continue to operate within the law, which we must do, but also so we can support manufacturing in Scotland, which is my priority.”

Local MSP Michael Matheson warned politicians not to turn the situation into “political football” as real jobs were at risk.

He urged the Scottish Government to help the firm maximise bus orders from across the UK and also seek to address the “uneven playing field” which meant UK firms struggled to compete with manufacturers based overseas.