Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 02 December 2020
I am aware that, in evidence yesterday to the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee, the chief executive was very clear about the agreement that was made between the Scottish Government and the company.
BiFab has stated that it was always JV Driver’s intent to re-establish the business with a primary focus on United Kingdom domestic market renewable energy projects, and that that was openly discussed with the Scottish ministers and set out in the long-term business plan. That view correlates with the decision of the Scottish ministers to seek approval from the Finance and Constitution Committee, in November 2019, to provide a 100 per cent guarantee for the Neart na Gaoithe contract, including a 100 per cent guarantee in support of a performance bond from the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Yesterday, the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee heard from the chief executive officer of DF Barnes that, had it not been for Covid, work on the NnG contract would have been well under way by now. Due to the delay, the letter of intent to commence project activities was signed by Saipem and BiFab in mid-September. Then, to the shock of the workforce, the trade unions and the company, the Government announced that it was withdrawing from the guarantee. Yesterday, DF Barnes president Jason Fudge told the committee that the firm had been prepared to put up to 500 employees back to work on a contract for the turbine jackets for the NnG offshore wind farm project, when it emerged that ministers could no longer provide the necessary financial support.
The question is, what changed between the discussions and the approach to the finance committee in late 2019, and 2020?
The cabinet secretary said that the Government got legal advice that it would be in breach of state aid rules. The first point to be made about that is that we are out of the European Union on 31 December, so the state aid rules will not apply. It is convenient for the SNP to blame state aid while Governments across Europe seem to find a way of supporting their industries and workforces.
What of that legal opinion? Where did it come from and what did it say? Those seem like reasonable questions to ask. We are asking the Government to publish the legal advice. The GMB and Unite trade unions have sought and published their own legal opinions. As partners in BiFab, they have asked the Government to do likewise, but the cabinet secretary told them that they would have to seek a judicial review to get that information. That is not a good definition of partnership working with the trade unions in Scotland.
BiFab and the trade unions have presented an option for working alongside Saipem in the Fife yards, and asked the Government to jointly present the option to Saipem and EDF, but the Government has not taken that up. That option is still on the table and would secure jobs in Scotland. We cannot sit back and allow the work of Scottish offshore renewables to go to countries in Asia, where the price differentials are primarily driven by low-cost labour, state-led investment, and subsidies, while this Government hides behind European state aid rules. To do that is to sell Scotland out to the lowest bidder.
In moving the motion today, I say that the youth of today and the youth of tomorrow will need the jobs, and the only way to get those jobs is for the Government to step up and find a solution, work with the trade unions, and work with the company.
I move,
That the Parliament believes that Scotland has the potential to lead Europe’s green energy revolution over the coming decades; further believes that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and job losses, green jobs will be central to creating new employment and training opportunities across Scotland; considers that, with the support of the workforce and their trades unions, the maximum effort has to be made to secure wind farm contracts for Scottish manufacturing companies; notes that, in open competition, BiFab won a £30 million contract to build turbine jackets for the NnG North Sea wind farm, work that could have started in January 2021, but has been prevented from going ahead with this; condemns the Scottish Government’s decision to withdraw the financial guarantee that was needed to enable this work to go ahead, thus risking Scotland’s reputation as a new green investment hub, and further condemns the Scottish Government’s failure to produce any legal opinion to justify its claim that support for BiFab was against the law; calls on it to act now to secure the future of the Burntisland Methil and Arnish yards, and the jobs that depend on them; further calls on it to talk to the workforce’s representatives and to ask for the help of the UK Government through the joint working party to urgently negotiate with EDF and Saipem to find a solution that ensures that the NnG contract for eight wind turbine platforms is carried out in the yards, and, with Glasgow being the venue of the COP26 summit in December 2021, calls for a concrete plan to be published in January by the Scottish Government that ensures that future work on renewables comes to Scottish yards.
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