Scottish Government 'exploring all viable options' to save jobs at Alexander Dennis
The bus manufacturer is currently consulting on proposals to close operations in Scotland and move to a single site in Yorkshire due to financial concerns, with 400 jobs potentially at risk.
Appearing before MSPs last month, Alexander Dennis managing director Paul Davies said the decision was not a 'done deal', but the company would need to see a significant rise in bus orders – between 70 and 100 by the end of the year and 300-400 next year – to remain open.
In a letter to Colin Smyth, the convener of Holyrood's Economy and Fair Work Committee, finance secretary Shona Robison said the Government is committed to looking at 'all viable options' and ministers are working with private bus companies.
'I agree about the importance of securing a short-term pipeline of orders,' she said.
'Please be assured that we are therefore liaising with commercial bus operators and local transport authorities to establish the current demand for double-deck buses in Scotland and are working alongside UK Government to identify demand in other parts of the UK.
'I am in full agreement with you about the importance of Alexander Dennis to Scotland and of retaining the jobs of the highly-skilled workers.
'That is why we are continuing to work at pace with Scottish Enterprise and UK Government, and alongside the company and trade unions, to explore all viable options to support ADL to retain bus manufacturing in Scotland.'
Robison also suggested ADL could be forced to pay back money it has been given by the Government's commercial arm Scottish Enterprise for skills and technological development, though it would be for the agency to decide how to proceed.
The finance secretary also stressed the issues the Government faces due to UK-wide state aid regulations, which govern the level to which ministers can intervene in private businesses.
She said the Subsidy Control Act does not allow for subsidies which enforce the use of domestically-made goods and services, which would hamper the Scottish Government's efforts to force bus firms to use Alexander Dennis.
'Scottish ministers and officials consistently make representation on the development of the subsidy control regime for the benefit of Scottish businesses,' she said.
'However, as this is a reserved matter, it is ultimately for UK Government to make the final decision on any changes to the regime.'
A UK Government spokesperson said: 'The UK is a global leader in bus manufacturing, and around 60% of buses funded through our zero-emission regional bus programme are being built by UK-based companies, supporting jobs and a greener transport network.
'Alexander Dennis has a strong future in the UK's growing zero-emission bus market. Through the spending review, we have committed £15.6 billion to local leaders to boost services and green fleets across the UK.
'We're also giving regional leaders and leading manufacturers a voice on zero-emission plans, through the UK bus manufacturing expert panel, which seeks to put local people at the heart of bus building.'
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
John Hipkin obituary
My father, John Hipkin, who has died aged 90, was a teacher, councillor and former mayor of Cambridge. He brought intelligence, compassion and moral clarity to his four decades serving in local government, first as a Labour county councillor for Romsey ward in 1977; later, as a founding member of the SDP, he became a Lib Dem city councillor for Castle ward in 1992. He then served as an independent until his retirement from local politics in 2021. He was chair of the planning committee for a period and was mayor in 2005-06. Choosing 'peace' as the focus of his year, he was touched to be invited to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to mark the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of those cities. John was also a co-founder of the Western Buddhist Order in 1967, and a founder, in 1960, and director for the Advisory Centre for Education, a service that gives advice to parents, carers, governors, local authorities and others on education law. He also did research at King's College Cambridge for the Public Schools Commission (1965-68), looking at the possibilities of integrating public schools into the maintained system of education. Born in Derby, John experienced adversity in his early life. His mother, Bunty (Elsie) Holloway, was forced to place John into the care of Dr Barnardo's when he was five; his two younger siblings, Anthony and Naomi, were adopted separately. His father, Jack Hipkin, a mounted police officer, was married, and during the second world war the relationship ended. After being placed with foster carers, education offered John a way forward. He passed the 11-plus, attended two grammar schools, first in Diss, Norfolk, and then in Surbiton, near Kingston upon Thames. He went to the London School of Economics, graduating with a first-class degree in history and economics. John became an English teacher and was determined to give back to the system that changed the direction of his life. In his first post at Senacre school in Maidstone, Kent, he developed his own English curriculum and wrote and produced a play, The Massacre of Peterloo (1968), which enlisted everyone in a collaborative production, with each student committed to a role. He later became head of English at Meridian school in Royston, Hertfordshire, and retired in 1995. He was reunited with his mother and his sister, who had changed her name from Naomi to Margaret, and his brother, Anthony, who died in 2014. Bunty had three other children, Hugh, David and Pamela. Rediscovering his siblings and their families was a healing experience. He is survived by his second wife, Marie-Louise (nee Holland), whom he married in 2004, and by his children Charlotte, Thomas, Joseph, Daniel and David, from his first marriage, to Bronwyn Dewey, which ended in divorce; me, from his relationship with Sylvie Chastagnol; and Imogen, from his marriage to Marie-Louise.
Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Middle-income workers shoulder biggest tax burden increase
Middle-class workers are shouldering the biggest increase in the tax burden thanks to a stealth raid on thresholds, analysis suggests. The share of income tax paid by those who earn between £43,000 and £61,900 rose from 15.1pc to 17pc between 2021-22 and 2025-26, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance. During the same five-year period, the share of income tax paid by the top 1pc, those earning more than £201,000 a year, fell from 30.7pc to 26.6pc, the pressure group found. It comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces a £50bn black hole in the public finances and declining tax revenue as high-net-worth individuals look to move abroad. Analysis by the Financial Times this month revealed there had been a 40pc rise in directors moving abroad since Labour's autumn Budget. The Taxpayers' Alliance report found the proportion of total income tax receipts increased for every group except for the top 1pc of earners, thanks to a series of stealth taxes first introduced by the Conservatives. Income tax thresholds, including the £12,570 tax-free 'personal allowance', were frozen at the 2021 budget by then chancellor Rishi Sunak until 2025-26. A year later, his successor, Jeremy Hunt, extended the freeze until 2027-28. Despite promising not to raise taxes on working people, Sir Keir Starmer has not ruled out extending the freeze further to 2029-30. Keeping thresholds frozen means earners lose a larger share of their incomes to tax, as inflation pushes up wages in a process known as fiscal drag. The stealth raid means almost 2.9 million more people will pay the basic rate of income tax in 2025-26 than in 2021-22, while over 2.6 million more will pay the higher rate. Including other rates, almost 6 million more people are forecast to be paying income tax than in 2021-22. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'This is the sad but inevitable result of successive governments' assortment of anti-affluence tax policies, which penalise aspiration and success. 'The UK is now trapped in a doom loop with the Chancellor desperately scrabbling around for more cash to fill the fiscal black hole and increasingly finding her only option is to come after the middle classes. 'Rachel Reeves needs to now show some humility and reverse the policies that have done so much to drive away high earners.' The respected National Institute of Economic and Social Research on Tuesday warned slowing economic growth, a weak jobs market and Labour's failure to commit to welfare reform meant Ms Reeves was on course to miss her borrowing targets by £41.2bn. When combined with the £9.9bn of headroom the Chancellor has committed to keeping, it means she is facing a £51.1bn deficit in the autumn that will either have to be solved by raising taxes or cutting spending. The study also underlined the importance for the Treasury's balance sheet to keep the highest earners in Britain. Despite the proportion of tax paid by the top 1pc of earners falling, the group still accounts for more than a quarter of all income tax receipts. Analysis of Companies House by the Financial Times found that 3,790 company directors had left Britain between October and July compared with 2,712 in the same period a year earlier. Significant names have included Richard Gnodde, Goldman Sachs ' most senior banker outside the US, Nassef Sawiris, the Aston Villa co-owner, and British property tycoon brothers Ian and Richard Livingstone. It comes after Labour launched a wide-ranging tax raid after coming to power last year. This included abolishing the non-dom status and tightening inheritance tax rules. Laura Suter, of AJ Bell, said: 'Government tax policy in the past few years has had the dual outcome of pushing some of the wealthiest to leave the UK and also landing more taxpayers with higher tax bills at the same time. 'Together, this means that an increasing proportion of the total tax bill of the country is paid by middle earners, rather than the super-rich. 'Looking ahead, any potential tax-raising measures that Rachel Reeves makes in her next Budget could exacerbate this dynamic further.' Trevor Williams, a former chief economist at Lloyds Bank, previously warned Britain was facing a millionaires' exodus. Mr Williams said: 'Since 2014, the number of resident millionaires in the UK dropped by 9pc compared with the world's 10 wealthiest countries' global average growth of more than 40pc. 'Over the same period, the US saw a 78pc increase in millionaires – the fastest wealth growth [among these countries].' The Treasury insisted that under its Plan for Change it would keep more money in people's pockets. A spokesman said: 'This government inherited the previous government's policy of frozen tax thresholds. At the Budget and the Spring Statement, the Chancellor announced that we would not extend that freeze. 'We are also protecting payslips for working people by keeping our promise to not raise the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee National Insurance or VAT. That's the Plan for Change – protecting people's incomes and putting money into people's pockets.'
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Redcar Council parking patrol CCTV cars to get £100k upgrade
A council has approved funding of £100,000 to upgrade CCTV car which captures footage of motorists flouting parking and traffic restrictions and introduce a second and Cleveland Council sanctioned spending on for new front and rear stingray cameras on its existing car which mainly patrols near in bus stops was another area set to be subject to increased monitoring, which in some instances blocked passengers from being picked up and dropped 2018 the enforcement vehicle had provided evidence leading to 2,450 penalty charge notices, the council said. A spending decision document said the greatest challenge for officers was the size of the borough and the number of schools with "significant challenges for repeated and equitable enforcement of restrictions".It said ensuring road safety around primary schools in particular on mornings and at home times was "imperative".A council spokesman said: "The authority is now looking to deploy a second enforcement vehicle which may be used in areas where crime and anti-social behaviour are identified as ongoing problems, as well as supporting public safety at events." The Labour-led authority signed off on £99,443 of funding, the Local Democracy Reporting Service sum included the cost of a five-year support and maintenance contract. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
