The Scottish Government has been accused of rejecting a £1million offer to save 200 jobs by nationalising a historic railway works.
Gemini Rail Services announced proposals to pull out of the St Rollox depot in Glasgow’s Springburn last year.
Labour MP Paul Sweeney has now demanded Transport Secretary Michael Matheson pursues proposals put to him through union officials that would involve Gemini handing over £1million to the Government in exchange for taking the site into public ownership.
The offer is understood to have been put on the table by Gemini because the cost of making workers redundant would be far higher than offloading the company to a new operator.
Sweeney said: “It was explained that the redundancy liability for Gemini had increased from about £700,000 to £3.5million. As a result, the company were looking to exit by offering £1million as a means of getting out.
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“The offer hasn’t been made in writing, it has been an informal suggestion and it has been put to the Government through the trade union.
“But the Government has been completely passive. Matheson just said, ‘We are not nationalising’.
“But it is not good enough to put a for sale sign up and sit back and wait.”
Sweeney has now written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon demanding action.
His letter states: “Having attended the meeting with your Cabinet Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure, I was disappointed by his decision not to consider direct government intervention to bring the St Rollox Railway works back into public ownership in order to safeguard the strategically important railway engineering capabilities of both the site and the workforce.”
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But a Transport Scotland spokesman said: “As far as we aware, no formal offer has yet been received by Scottish Enterprise, so it’s untrue to say this was rejected.
“Ministers and officials will continue to do all they can in looking to the potential for repurposing the site – however any proposals have to be viable in the longer term.”
Gemini did not respond to requests for comment.
