IN parliament I raised concerns regarding recent announcements of various companies in Inverclyde who are proposing to transfer jobs overseas (DB Apparel & Manpower), and others (RBS & Poundstretcher) who are closing their operations.

IN parliament I raised concerns regarding recent announcements of various companies in Inverclyde who are proposing to transfer jobs overseas (DB Apparel & Manpower), and others (RBS & Poundstretcher) who are closing their operations.

The news of these potential job losses is a major blow to the workforces involved and also the Inverclyde community as a whole.

Therefore, my colleague Ronnie Cowan MP and I have contacted the Scottish Government to arrange a meeting with the Minister for Business to discuss the issue of jobs in Inverclyde moving overseas and what action can be taken to secure more inward investment into the area.

Action must be taken to ensure Inverclyde is a popular place to work and job creation opportunities occur.

As the Deputy First Minister indicated, the Scotland Bill falls well short of fully implementing the Smith Commission’s recommendations.

The Bill fails to deliver the Smith proposals in a number of areas identified by the Scottish Government in January, and by a cross party committee of the Scottish Parliament this month.

Examples of this failure are the UK Government’s continued vetoes over changes to Universal Credit and failure to devolve the full range of employment support services currently delivered by DWP.

Last week, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the first stage of lowering the voting age in Scottish Parliamentary and local elections to 16 and 17-year-olds.

I fully support this as we look to increase voter participation and get young people further interested in politics.