Brown’s legal threat to SNP to save BiFab

GORDON Brown is considering seeking a j udicial review of the SNP’s insistence that EU regulations must hold sway in Scotland after Brexit, saying this is putting 400 jobs at risk.

Engineering firm BiFab is on the brink of collapse because ministers have withdrawn a £30million promise to back it.

They claim doing so would breach Brussels’ rules on state aid. But the UK’s Brexit transition period ends on December 31 and the contract at the heart of the dispute does not begin until 2021. By that time, though, BiFab and its three yards in Fife and on Lewis could be shut.

Trade unions have received a legal opinion from QC Lord Davidson, who advises that SNP ministers’ actions appear ‘irrational’.

Mr Brown has now pledged to fund a legal challenge to the Scottish Government’s decision to adhere to Brussels diktats. The former Labour Prime Minister, who was MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in Fife and lives in the area, also called for UK ministers to step in and underwrite the contract if the SNP refuses to budge.

Mr Brown said: ‘The Scottish Government’s decision to kill off its £30million guarantee to BiFab is an enormous mistake that may cost 400 well-paid Scottish jobs.

‘If those jobs go, another North Sea wind turbine contract will be lost to Scotland, going instead to Asia. That would represent a massive failure of government. Why have they not been working with the UK Government to clear obstacles in the way of the guarantee?’

Last night, talks between the company, unions and the Scottish Government were taking place.

BiFab – which has yards at Methil and Burntisland in Fife and Arnish, near Stornoway – was saved in 2018 thanks to a rescue package by Canadian company DF Barnes and the Scottish Government.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We will continue to do everything possible to support the business while recognising the need for us to remain in line with state aid regulations.’

‘Massive failure of government’