MPs present Remploy business case

Feb 17 2013

MPs have written to eight prospective buyers of two under-threat factories which employ disabled workers, urging them to prevent local jobs going to Asia.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown and his two fellow Fife Labour MPs Lindsay Roy and Thomas Docherty have presented a draft business plan to firms that have expressed an interest in buying the Remploy factories in Leven and Cowdenbeath.

In a joint statement, the MPs said: "We are writing to buyers showing how the factories can achieve financial viability.

"Given that eight potential buyers for Remploy's two Fife factories have come forward and expressed an interest, we seek to show them that the factories have full order books, an internationally-renowned product, a great workforce and the capacity to expand.

"Advertising the benefits of a workforce may seem an unusual step but we will do everything to show that the Leven and Cowdenbeath sites are worth saving. Our research shows that there is now no need to lose these factories - and having proved that they can be saved, closure is now not an option for us."

It comes after a meeting with Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith last week. Mr Duncan Smith and the Scottish enterprise minister Fergus Ewing have offered to adopt a more flexible approach to transitional funding, according to the MPs.

The MPs said the present transitional support of £6,400 per disabled employee must be doubled at least.

They added: "Our new move to advertise the benefits of the workforce's commitment and the quality of the product is the next stage in our campaign to press the Government for support at a level that allows the factories to break even in their transitional stages.

"There is no need to lose manufacturing work to Asia from factories which have full order books.

"Our draft plan suggests that orders of the marine lifejackets can also be increased from 30,000 to nearly 40,000. But to break even this year and next year, the annual cost per employee is £17,500 - far higher than the total subsidy of, on average, £3,750 per year for the first three years of privatisation."