Salmond ‘radio silence’ on £150m turbines contract

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond has been accused of going into “radio silence” after his election pledge to do everything he could to land a £150 million renewables contract for Scotland.

Spanish company Gamesa was due to announce at the end of last month whether it was going to chose Dundee or Hartlepool for the wind turbine plant. The contract could create about 800 much-needed jobs.

Jenny Marra, Labour MSP for North East Scotland, said she had written to the First Minister two weeks ago asking him what support he had put in place to ensure the jobs went to Dundee rather than its County Durham rival.

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Ms Marra said: “Alex Salmond has gone into radio silence and is showing a lot of complacency about these jobs at a time when one in four of our young people in Scotland are unemployed.

“Dundee is in a two-horse race with Hartlepool and I’d have thought he’d be prioritising the fight for these jobs.

“Time is marching on, and the First Minister should be using his good relationship with Gamesa to bring these jobs to Scotland.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise are continuing to work very closely with Gamesa to support its manufacturing plans and to create the best conditions for low-carbon investment across Scotland.”