By Suzanna Kerridge, 25 April 2001 12:15
NEWS Scottish Minister for enterprise Wendy Alexander said she was shocked and dismayed by the decision and had instructed officials to start proceedings to recover the regional selective assistance (RSA) awarded in 1999. A Scottish Executive spokeman said: "The RSA was given to Motorola to create or sustain jobs. It was given on the basis that the company was undergoing expansion and was subject to conditions. Now that it has failed to meet those conditions we have decided to claw it back." Alexander claimed the UK government and Scottish Executive had "negotiated hard" to try and convince the Chicago-based phone company to reverse its decision. "The decision was knife-edge but much to our disappointment Motorola has chosen to propose shutting Bathgate," she said in a statement. Motorola has said its operations in East Kilbride and South Queensferry will remain unaffected by the decision. It has also told the Scottish Executive it is committed to software development activities at Livingstone and the manufacture of next generation semi conductors at Dunfermline. Bathgate workers will be offered help by the Scottish Executive to find new employment. Motorola refused to comment on the provisions it will be making for its soon-to-be former employees. The mobile phone company cited the US downturn and global decline in mobile phone sales as justification for its proposal to shut the West Lothian plant. Workers at Bathgate will derive "cold comfort" from this explanation, said Alexander.
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