Date: 03 September 2009 BROCKLEBANK CONTINUES TO CAMPAIGN TO ENSURE 400 DIAGEO JOBS COME TO LEVEN Speaking in yesterday evening’s members’ debate in the Scottish Parliament on Diageo closures in Kilmarnock and Glasgow, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Ted Brocklebank, said;
“I congratulate Willie Coffey on securing the debate and fighting for his constituents, as I would expect a good local member of the Scottish Parliament to do. My colleague John Scott has had to leave the chamber, but I am sure that he will fight equally hard for his constituents in Ayrshire.
I would have preferred that no Diageo jobs be lost anywhere in Scotland, but I am sad to say that that is not the situation that we face. It seems certain that, whether Diageo sticks with its original plan or accedes to the draft proposals that the cabinet secretary's task force has put forward, 500 Diageo jobs will be lost in Scotland.
It is my responsibility as a member for Mid Scotland and Fife to try to ensure that no action to save the Kilmarnock and Glasgow jobs puts Diageo's long-term future in Fife at risk. Despite what the cabinet secretary said this afternoon, that is a possibility. Mr David Gosnell, Diageo's director for global marketing, made it clear in a television interview last week that future investment in Scotland as a whole could be at risk if there was undue Government intervention in the company's business. He warned that the distilling of non-whisky clear spirits such as vodka and gin could be particularly vulnerable. Those are, of course, principal products distilled at Cameronbridge.
Scotland is set to lose bottling jobs because Diageo has decided that, in the present economic climate, its operations can be run more efficiently. The basic question seems to be whether it is better for £70 million of public money—that is an estimate—to be spent on retaining 500 bottling jobs at Kilmarnock or for us to support the creation of 400 extra jobs in Fife at no cost to the taxpayer.
I am well aware of the devastation that the removal of 900 jobs from Kilmarnock and Port Dundas will wreak on those communities. As we have heard, their local economies are fragile at best. Methil and Leven, too, have fragile local economies. They have had to survive their former dependence on the coal industry and, in more recent times, the loss of the oil platform yard at Methil. Over the years, Fifers have built an admirable reputation for the production of Britain's top-selling vodka—Smirnoff—as well as Gordon's gin, Tanqueray and top-selling whisky brands. They have already attracted an extra £86 million investment from the parent company.
In my experience, the truth is that Government attempts to direct businesses to areas with unemployment problems have met with relatively little success over the years. I am sure that Jim Mather, who is approximately in my age bracket, will be able to attest to that in relation to motor car building at Bathgate, the aluminium smelter at Invergordon and the pulp mill at Corpach. I could go on and on.
I will address the loss of heritage brands and the Kilmarnock connection, to which Willie Coffey referred. As he will be aware, the grain whisky basis of all Johnnie Walker blends is Old Cameron Brig, which is produced at the distillery of that name in Fife just up the road from Leven. Various malts are added to the mix—one from Skye and others from Speyside—and blended into the various Johnnie Walker brands at plants throughout Scotland, including at Cameronbridge and, as we have heard, here in Edinburgh.
Despite the historic Johnnie Walker roots in Kilmarnock, the Ayrshire town now contributes a bottling and packaging plant to the brand—and, doubtless, 700 excellent and loyal workers. However, it takes little imagination to see why Diageo wants to consolidate its bottling close to the site where the basic grain spirit necessary for all Johnnie Walker blends is distilled. That is Cameronbridge and, of course, there are excellent bottling facilities just down the road at Leven.
I hope that, even at this late stage, the cabinet secretary will be able to come to an agreement with Diageo that provides something for everybody, with guarantees of employment in the west and in Fife. However, as Gavin Brown and others have said, experience suggests that that is not likely to be possible. Nonetheless, I wish John Swinney all good luck in his efforts while making it absolutely clear that, as a Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, I will continue to campaign for the £100 million investment and 400 additional jobs at Leven.”
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