SNP’s ‘industrial wasteland’
BiFab in administration ++ £52m of YOUR cash poured into firm ++ ‘Incompetent’ ministers blamed
A SCOTTISH engineering f i rm plunged into administration yesterday due to ‘ incompetence’ by SNP ministers, it was claimed last night.
Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) was forced to shut up shop after the Scottish Government withdrew its backing.
Owners said they had failed to secure new contracts because the firm has been unable to compete with other yards. More than £52million of taxpayers’ money has been ploughed into the yard since it was rescued in 2017.
Canada-based DF Barnes took over running the company a year later, with the promise of a £30million guarantee from the Scottish Government to help secure future contracts.
But ministers withdrew their support in October, scuppering a lucrative deal to build eight wind turbine jackets. A statement from the company said: ‘The board has agreed to place the company in administration following the Scottish Government’s decision to remove contract assurances. The absence of supply chain protections in Scotland and the wider UK have undermined our ability to compete with government- owned and governmentsupported yards outside and inside the European Union.’
When DF Barnes bought the business, it said it was ‘not an investable company at the time’ and it was understood the Scottish Government would be the ‘primary financiers’.
The firm – which has yards in Burntisland and Methil in Fife as well as one on Lewis – had been preparing to put up to 500 employees back to work on a wind turbine scheme.
But ministers felt that providing further support for the ailing company would be seen as illegal state aid under European Union regulations. A £2billion deal to make eight turbine jackets at its Methil site collapsed.
Yet Nicola Sturgeon has proudly spoken of fighting for the yard.
In December 2017, she said: ‘ The workers of BiFab... would not be in a job this Christmas without the [Scottish Government’s] intervention. While [Scottish Labour leader] Richard Leonard was having wee photo shoots outside BiFab, I was making sure that we save that company.’
Last month she said: ‘We will continue to do everything in our power to support [BiFab workers] and stand ready to work with any company interested in taking on the yards.
‘We have been exhaustive in our consideration of the options available to us to support BiFab.’
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie said: ‘The SNP Government’s incompetence has left an
‘Very expensive publicity stunt’
industrial wasteland. The Government has wasted over £52million creating a couple of hundred temporary jobs. The debacle has been a very expensive publicity stunt.’
The Scottish Government has argued state aid rules prevent it from bailing out the company and it ruled out nationalisation. It said majority shareholder JV Driver, which owns DF Barnes, has failed to provide capital and other necessary requirements for the firm to secure new contracts. The firm has denied this is the case. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a business select committee inquiry into the ‘scandal’ of t he Scottish Government’s handling of the BiFab sites.
Economy Secretary Fiona Hyslop has committed to working with administrators and trade unions to find a future for the yards.
Yesterday, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I’m deeply disappointed... if there was more we could have done within the law to avert what has happened, we would have done that.’
The Scottish and UK Governments faced strong criticism from unions, with GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith and Unite Scotland secretary Pat Rafferty saying in a joint statement: ‘BiFab’s administration exposes the myth of Scotland’s renewables revolution, as well as a decade of political hypocrisy and failure in Scotland and the rest of the UK.’