UK Government and Scottish Government are working jointly to explore options to prevent the loss of 400 bus manufacturing jobs in Scotland

 
ADL: This is a challenging time, and we are grateful for the active engagement from the Scottish and UK Governments

 
A joint working group has been established by the UK Government and Scottish Government to explore ways to avert job losses at bus builder Alexander Dennis in Scotland.

Earlier this month (PT339) the manufacturer announced it would consult on a new strategy for its UK operations. This would see its UK bus body manufacturing operations consolidated into a single site in Scarborough. Production would cease at the company’s factories at Falkirk and Larbert in Scotland, although it is understood that its headquarters would remain at Larbert.

Paul Davies, Alexander Dennis’s president and managing director, blamed UK policy and the “competitive imbalance” with cheaper imports for the decision.

The UK and Scottish governments are said to be looking at how far they can push UK state aid rules set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 to create a support package to save the 400 roles at risk of redundancy – approximately 22% of Alexander Dennis’s workforce.

A spokesperson for Alexander Dennis said: “This is a challenging time, and we are grateful for the active engagement from the Scottish and UK Governments and other political parties and stakeholders to discuss options and possible interventions.

“It is clear there is a shared ambition to ensure the Scottish and UK manufacturing industry is protected and can thrive and we hope that we can encourage a cross-nation, collaborative approach as we continue to progress these important discussions.”

It is clear there is a shared ambition

Alexander Dennis is facing strong competition from Chinese electric bus manufacturers, whose share of the market had risen from 10% to 35% in recent years.

Scotland’s deputy first minister, Kate Forbes, has pledged to leave “no stone unturned” in securing a future for ADL.

It has been revealed that frustrations emerged after May 2023 when Alexander Dennis hosted the second phase of the Scottish Government’s Zero Emissions Bus Challenge Fund (ScotZEB) which was to have funding worth £58m.

In a scathing letter seen by The Herald, Paul Soubry, president and chief executive of Alexander Dennis’s parent company NFI, told first minster John Swinney that recent developments had “regretfully left [them] with the impression that the Scottish Government has little regard for domestic bus manufacturing jobs in Scotland”. Swinney was also told they had already been “forced” to offshore certain manufacturing functions to China.

A Scottish Government memo said that Alexander Dennis had received orders for 363 zero-emission buses from ScotZEB more than any other manufacturer. But a separate briefing states that Alexander Dennis was awarded only 17% or 44 buses from second phase of the ScotZEB programme.

A significant grant through the ScotZeb 2 programme was won by Zenobe and its consortium of bus and coach operators to support the transition of bus fleets to electric. ADL made its own bid to the programme but was unsuccessful.

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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