Blair phone call may have won jobs reprieve
A phone call made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair appears to have won a breathing space for a US-owned mobile phone factory where up to 3,000 jobs are under threat.
The call by Mr Blair last night to the president of Motorola, Chris Galvin, followed pressure on the American company by the Scottish Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander.
She had been urging the company to avoid making a hasty decision on the fate of the Scottish operation. Fears mounted yesterday that the entire plant at Bathgate, West Lothian, could close.
When Motorola's quarterly results were announced last night, there was no announcement about Bathgate. But the company's figures were even worse than some gloomy forecasts.
Motorola announced first quarter losses of $206m - that's equivalent to £140m - and said "substantial cost-reduction activities would continue".
Mr Blair's phone call to the Motorola president took place yesterday evening. A Number 10 spokesman said the Prime Minister spent 15 minutes discussing the company's plans for Scotland.
Motorola said yesterday that no decision had been made on the plant, and described reports of imminent closure as "rumour and speculation".
The Bathgate plant is currently on a two-week Easter shutdown and no announcement is now expected from Motorola for some days.
An indication of the urgency with which ministers had acted came when Ms Alexander said she and colleagues had "forced our way" in to see the head of Motorola's mobile phone division during a visit to the United States for the Tartan Day celebrations.
"The critical thing we have been involved in, in very delicate negotiations, is to try to separate out the decisions on the future of the plants in Scotland from the response of the markets to the results," the minister told BBC Radio Scotland.
