Getting Ayrshire back to work

Published 24 Feb 2010 14:37 0 Comments

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Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party candidate for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Cathy Jamieson and MP Des Browne welcome the news that the Scotland Office is to hold an Ayrshire Jobs Summit at Kilmarnock College on 25 February.

This job summit follows on from a joint call from Ayrshire's Labour MPs and MSPs after a similar, very successful National Jobs Summit held in Glasgow on 11 January.

Cathy Jamieson said: "This jobs summit is good news for Ayrshire. Jobs and the economy are what local people are concerned about, and we must give priority to creating jobs locally. The actions taken by the UK Labour Government in response to the global financial crisis have stabilised the economy. However, we cannot be complacent. The overall economic position remains challenging and people continue to experience the impact of this recent recession.

"The latest unemployment figures show that urgent action is needed in East Ayrshire. At the National Jobs Summit in Glasgow last month, Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy spoke about the need to offer employment and training for young people. I want to see a guaranteed place for young people who have been out of work, as well as help for those who lose their jobs because of redundancy.

"This summit will give us the chance to look at what's needed locally, and get the right response in place quickly. The Scottish Government should also be doing more to help retain jobs. For example, they could follow the lead of the Welsh Assembly Government's Proact scheme, which helps companies avoid paying people off."

Des Browne said: "14 months ago, during the Vesuvius closure, the SNP Minister for Enterprise , Energy and Tourism ; Jim Mather MSP promised a pan-Ayrshire jobs summit. It never happened. Since then of course we have been hit by the Johnnie Walker debacle. I reminded Mr Mather several times about his promise to the people of Ayrshire and he appears to have turned a deaf ear to those calls for action.

"The SNP closed down Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire ignoring local calls not to, and now the need for action to support businesses, the workers and communities here is greater than ever before.

"The Labour Government of Gordon Brown recognises we cannot afford to wait any longer for the SNP Government in Edinburgh to act. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, and Minister Ann McKechin are stepping into this vacuum created by the dithering and parochial Alex Salmond, and are taking positive action to help Ayrshire back to work."

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