Ian Murray visits Methil Yard

Scottish Secretary at Harland & Wolff's Methil yard after deal to buy out the company is announced.

Transcript

00:00We're here today inside one of the giant yards at Hartland and Wolfe in Fife where a new deal

00:10has been secured to save its future and that of three others across the UK. The former

00:16Hartland and Wolfe Yard is one of four being bought over by Spanish shipbuilders of the

00:20country to advance the UK, securing 1,000 jobs in total across the country. The UK Government

00:26comes months after Hartland and Wolfe announced it was going into administration sparking

00:30many fears for the future of this yard in metal. The metal yard is one of four being

00:34saved along with Armish and the Westland Isles, the two Scottish ones. Today in Moray, the

00:39Scottish Secretary came into the yard to meet staff, management and trade unions to discuss

00:44the future of the yard.

00:56This video was made in Cooperation with the Scottish Government. Any resemblance to

01:00animals or people is coincidental.

01:26What's the potential of this particular yard for Fife?

01:54Well it's the best Christmas present this yard could have had. This has got huge potential

01:59and although the Navantier contract secures 90% of the staffing and workforce here for

02:03two years, all the discussion today hasn't been about that minimum, it's been about where

02:07the maximums can be for this yard. The potential is huge, they can have many multiples of the

02:11workforce they've got at the moment. And speaking to some of the apprenticeships today, they

02:15are really looking forward to the future, they're being upskilled, they're being reskilled

02:19in terms of the energy sector, the renewable sector. So this yard's got a brilliant future

02:24and it's great for Bethnal, it's great for Fife and it's great for Scotland.

02:26Do you think 2025 could be the start of a new era for the yard?

02:30I hope so, I hope today draws a line under the history, of course it's had a checkered

02:34history this yard, but it is still here and it's got world class workforce, produces world

02:38class results and therefore that's been a very easy sell to Navantier in terms of making

02:43sure all those four yards stay together across the UK. So the potential is huge and they're

02:48really excited to try and fulfil that potential and show what this yard can deliver.