SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar says he will put a rebuild of Ferguson Marine’s reputation at the heart of plans to invest in Inverclyde – if he is elected First Minister later this year.
Mr Sarwar visited Greenock yesterday as his party eyes up the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency currently held by the SNP’s Stuart McMillan.
Mr Sarwar told the Telegraph that while Inverclyde faces challenges, it is also home to ‘brilliant talent’ – and says the area needs a Scottish Government that shares that ambition.
Speaking on a visit to Your Voice Inverclyde in Hamilton Way, Mr Sarwar said: "If you look at what is happening here in Inverclyde, there are fantastic sites with fantastic workforces failed by the Scottish Government.
"Ferguson is a good example: there is a strong workforce, proud history and brilliant capacity around shipbuilding but shambolic leadership coming from the government.
"We want to protect the site and the workforce. We want to rebuild a reputation that has been done down not by the workforce but by an incompetent Scottish Government.
“I want a future not just for that site but for Inverclyde across the board.”
Mr Sarwar echoed the welcome from his party colleague, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West MP Martin McCluskey, for plans to invest in skills and training in the area so young people can take advantage of increased defence spending on the Clyde and the £20m the UK Government is putting in to the Inchgreen Marine Park site.
"The challenge we have is we don't have a skills system that matches the workforce,” he said.
“A third of workforce are short term employees imported in rather than upskilling people in our country to take these jobs.
"The average salary for these jobs are between £40,000 to £60,000 a year.
"Can you imagine if we had hundreds of additional apprenticeships and places for young people in Inverclyde to take these jobs and how transformational that would be for Inverclyde?
"There are big financial challenges here in Inverclyde. Big employers have left the area.
"We want a level of investment for Inverclyde to flourish.
"It is a fantastic community, with lots of talent and lots of ambition."
Asked what the people of Inverclyde could expect from Anas Sarwar as First Minister, he listed the NHS and more police on the street as a priority as well as employment opportunities.
He added: "What I want to see is a meaningful difference for the people of Inverclyde."
Mr Sarwar also said the SNP’s 19 years in power meant it could no longer lay the blame for ageing infrastructure at the door of any other parties.
“John Swinney has been in government since I was at university,” he said, “and the idea that they are going to blame what happened before them is ridiculous.”
The party’s candidate in the constituency, local councillor Francesca Brennan, said: "Inverclyde is one of the best places for seeing the challenges Scotland faces but also the potential we have and that’s why it was important to have Anas Sarwar here in Inverclyde.”
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