THE LEADER of Inverclyde Council has written to Scotland’s First Minister to ask that Inverclyde gets the same support as other areas and help stop the ‘repeating pattern’ of significant job losses.
The move comes after it was revealed that over 100 jobs are set to be axed at Greenock’s Cigna site, alongside a further 22 under threat at the town’s Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Mortgage Centre.
Councillor Stephen McCabe has put the number of cuts at up to 129, but Inverclyde MP Martin McCluskey has warned more than 150 workers could face the axe.
In his letter to John Swinney, Cllr McCabe wrote that the ‘repeating pattern of significant job losses must be addressed'.
He pointed to the ‘many instances’ across Scotland where significant job losses have support packages to help affected communities.
The losses in Inverclyde could have a bigger impact than in other communities, wrote the Scottish Labour councillor, due to its small, declining population base, and socio-economic challenges.
Cllr McCabe also highlighted how data has shown that Inverclyde is an ‘outlier’ in the Glasgow City Region area for ‘lowest jobs density, highest proportion of job losses (particularly high value jobs) and health impact affecting the workforce and productivity’.
The latest spate of job adds to 1,500 posts lost in the area at firms including including Amazon, Berry BPI, IBM, Kyndryl, Webhelp and BT/EE.
Cllr McCabe added that taskforce was formed in 2022 under the previous Scottish Government in partnership with the UK Government, to focus on challenges in the area, with jobs a key priority.
A £70m funding request was submitted by the taskforce to both governments in 2023, but the council leader says there has been ‘little additional resource’ directed to Inverclyde since then, despite all partners accepting the scale of the issues.
He requested a firm commitment to provide the support and resources that, he says, Inverclyde needs to address its ongoing jobs crisis.
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The full text of the letter reads:
"Dear John,
"Congratulations on your re-appointment as Scotland’s First Minister.
"You may recall that I wrote to you in May 2024 following your first appointment as First Minister to request your direct intervention in the proposed closure of a Greenock call centre by BT/EE, which would have resulted in the transfer of 450 jobs from Greenock to Glasgow.
"I also invited you to visit Inverclyde to discuss the social and economic challenges we faced and how we could work together to address them. Unfortunately, the call centre is now closed and you were unable to accept my invitation to visit Inverclyde.
"I am again writing to you asking for your Government’s support and action to tackle the job crisis faced by Inverclyde.
"Over the last few years, I have written multiple times to Scottish Government ministers, on occasions jointly with Stuart McMillan MSP, outlining my grave concerns about the impact of job losses at Amazon, Berry BPI, IBM, Kyndryl, Webhelp, and most recently BT/EE, as detailed above. In total, these amount to a net loss of nearly 1,500 jobs.
"As you will be aware, under the previous Scottish Government, on the advice of Kate Forbes, an Inverclyde Socio-Economic Taskforce was formed in 2022 jointly with UK Government and has met since to consider the concentrated economic challenges faced by the area, with jobs a key focus.
"A financial ask of £70m was prepared by the Taskforce and presented to both Governments in 2023. However, there has been little additional resource directed to Inverclyde from the Scottish Government to address the challenges all Taskforce participants accept are faced by Inverclyde. The Taskforce setup was revamped last year to focus on delivery, yet little has changed.
"I would highlight that through working in partnership with the Glasgow City Region, these challenges have been further acknowledged with priority status for Inverclyde agreed in 2025. Underpinning this, the City Region Intelligence Hub have quantified that Inverclyde is an outlier in the City region in terms of lowest jobs density, highest proportion of job losses (particularly high value jobs) and health impact affecting the workforce and productivity.
"Last week we suffered yet another significant jobs blow with Cigna announcing the loss of potentially 129 jobs in Greenock, and SDS highlighting the potential redundancy of 22 staff at the Greenock RBS Mortgage Centre.
"This repeating pattern of significant job losses must be addressed by Taskforce Partners and I would request a meeting with you to discuss a package of support to be offered by the Scottish Government.
"There have been many instances across Scotland where job losses announced by a significant employer has triggered support packages to help the communities affected; and the current local circumstances, and the continuing pattern of job losses, is commensurate with, if not, more profound in terms of impact on Inverclyde communities, given our small, and declining, population base, and socio-economic challenges.
"I would welcome an early meeting and a firm commitment to providing the support and resources Inverclyde needs."
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