Call for review of Forth bridge steel contracts

Published on Friday 10 February 2012 00:00

Alex Salmond is facing calls for an immediate review of the “disgraceful” decision to hand all work to supply steel for the new Forth crossing to overseas firms.

Contracts for up to £40 million of steel that could have been produced in Scotland have gone to China, Portugal and Spain.

Workers at the Tata-run Dalzell steel plant in Motherwell have slammed the SNP administration over the deal and written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to intervene.

Just £20m of sub-contracts have gone to Scottish firms for the bridge project, although many have yet to be awarded. The Olympics has proved much more lucrative for Scots companies, which have won £100m of contracts for the event.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions yesterday after it was announced Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors, the consortium responsible for delivering the principal contract for the crossing, had struck deals with “major international steel suppliers” in China and the EU.

She said the First Minister had gone to China and “pulled off a master deal”, adding: “The Chinese got an £800m steel contract and we got two pandas.”

She said sending the profits, business creation, research and development and jobs from a contract of such a size to other countries was a bad deal for Scottish taxpayers. “The First Minister has spent £800m and not created a single job,” she said.

Ms Lamont added: “Will the First Minister stand up for Scottish workers and instruct an immediate review of this disgraceful contract which will have huge consequences across our communities?”

Mr Salmond said the steel contract represented 5-10 per cent of the total value of the Forth replacement crossing main contract, which was worth £790m.

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Arbroath 1320

Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 01:12 AM

Now that we have read the SLAB lies in this story is there ANY chance that we might actually get the truth? Perhaps a "truthful", in depth expose of how the Scottish Steel Industry was destroyed by our "overlords" from Wastemonster over the past few decades, yes that;s right DECADES!, might do as a starting point.

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13

Kinghob

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 06:26 PM

This was definitely put to bed at FMQ's yesterday-watched it on the inlayer. This is a distorted inventive 'article' with no substance or even a question left to answer-a travesty then and offensive to the intellect.

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12

Kinghob

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 06:22 PM

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11

Auld Twa

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 05:43 PM

At FMQ it was obvious that Joann Lamond had no idea that an SNP Scottsih Government handles tenders and contracts in confidence and fairly in order to obtain best value for money. The error in the value of the steel contract and her inability to adjust it in subsequent questions must be a worry to those who write her scripts.

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10

StevieC

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 12:21 PM

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9

samcoldstream

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Ratepayers must be relieved that the previous Labour - LibDem Coalition is not managing the procurement and building of the Forth replacement Crossing, or it might well have turned into another Scottish Parliament building, or Edinburgh Trams fiasco.

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8

Hazelkaye

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:09 AM

A "Call for (a) review of Forth bridge" would be more appropriate!

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7

grobert5

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 10:18 AM

Dear Editor If you are going to report on questions raised in First ministers Questions, it would be very useful and less biased to the Unionist parties if you actually reported the full answer to the question. Anyone who actually listened to the exchange you are reporting would know that Johann Lamont either didn't understand what Scotland can actually produce in the way of steel for this contract or couldn't adapt her next question to take into account the answer she had just been given. As the leader of the opposition she really should be able to think on her feet and not stick doggedly to an inaccurate script that was prepared for her by some backroom spin doctor. On the plus side it gave you another inaccurate headline to trumpet to the ever decreasing readership of your publication.

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6

Sneeky

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:45 AM

The steel ontract is worth 5-10% of the £790 million budget so that is £39.5 million to £79 million. Of this figure rougly 25% refers to Steel Plate, which we can manufacture in Scotland (thats £9.9 million to £19.8 million). However NO SCOTTISH PRODUCER SUBMITTED A PROPOSAL FOR THIS. The remaining steel cannot be fabricated in Scotland as there are no yards capable of creating it. This is since the decimation of the Scottish steel industry under thatcherism in the 80's and early 90's. 118 of the 155 subcontracts on the project had gone to firms in Scotland, while Scottish companies are benefiting from 870 of the 1,041 supply orders. To further improve upon this the Scottish government have gone to the lowest cost supplier for the sections we cannot provide through indigenous industry, i.e. the steel fabrications. This is all on top of the EU procurement laws that prevent the Scottish Government from favouring local suppliers and instead having to focus on the best bid. The reason that so many scottish firms have got a part of the contract is due to the online submission system set up by the SNP to allow smaller contractors to bid for parts of the work rather than large multinationals bidding for the whole thing. This has allowed them to get the best deal in each section and reduce the overall cost of the bridge down from its original £1.6 Billion price tag proposed to a more acceptable £790 million. _____ It doesn't matter how hard this is spun, it cannot be shown to be bad news... you only need to look at the figures to realise that Johan Lamont is on another PLANET if she thinks that the overall 71% of contracts awarded to Scottish Firms on a £790 million project comes to only £20 milion. _____ People are not stupid and the Labour party and MSM should stop treating them as such!!!

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5

WOTTPI

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:43 AM

Shocking piece of reporting. Its like going to Tynecastle the other night and coming away convinced that Hearts had actually won. Saw the relevant section of FM Questions at lunchtime yesterday. Lamont was well out of her depth, her facts and figures were wrong, wrong, wrong. That should be the lead story that the Scottish Labour Leader and her backroom staff are so far wholly ineffective. Instead we still have to read about an implied £800m steel contract that has never existed.

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4

Tipping Point

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:14 AM

I recall the Scottish Steel industry being decimated during our ever caring Union's watch. Another benefit of the Union to Scotland? Certainly it was nothing to do with Mr Salmond, the SNP or Independence. Let's not vote to continue that level of Westminster care. Time for something better.

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3

SNP for me

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:06 AM

Ehmmm, as I understand it no Scottish Companies bid to supply the steel so where's the story?

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2

freelander

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 08:31 AM

As Scotland ponders standing on the world stage as an independent country, it's important to realise that the world stage is exactly that - globalisation is a reality for good or ill. The EU buying rules are purposefully designed to create a level playing field and enable free trade right across Europe, removing much of the scope for any form of protectionism that would have enabled Scottish firms to be favoured (whether or not they are well-enforced). Other countries such as China are industrialising all the time, and don't have to meet the same requirements of employment law, wages, conditions etc.. Eastern Europe, and in fact much of the wider world has a lower cost base and of course Scotland will find it difficult to compete, as does most of the Western world economy. The recent report regarding money 'leaking from Scotland's economy' also talks about changing EU rules, although free trade is one of the strongest founding principles of the EU itself, so almost certainly will not be dismantled. It's time for a natonal debate about strategy, and how to make Scotland more globally competitive - it's really the central requirement for a country considering independence.

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1

flyinngscott

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 01:36 AM

Well done hootsman. You have now reached the bottom of the journalistic barrel. Is there an rspca inspector there, to monitor the working conditions of the monkeys battering away at their keypads?========= What a lot of effort has gone into this pathetic piece of propaganda, its all about the headline though eh?============ The real story was the absolutely pathetic performance of the Slab 'leader'., You also fail to mention the response mr Salmond gave her, more than once.======= "Ms Lamont added: “Will the First Minister stand up for Scottish workers and instruct an immediate review of this disgraceful contract which will have huge consequences across our communities?” Who wrote this p!sh? Your monkeys?

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