05/07/2012 Newsnight Scotland

By any standards the loss of 1,700 jobs is a blow. Is the government

will link were able to save those jobs. I will be asking the Cabinet

Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment. If you were going out

this weekend you might want to take a dinky rather than an umbrella.

Why is it raining so much and as it linked to climate change?

A one of Scotland's meat-processing plans looked likely to close.

Hall's produces sausages, pies and could meet. The Dutch company that

owns Hall's says it is losing �79,000 per day.

This is that troubled plant. Park of a struggling a European

operation. It is Scottish jobs that a mile on the line. 1,700 of them.

There is overcapacity in the market. We have seen it food prices

increase. We have seen energy prices increase. This is a very old

plant by modern standards. It is a complex plot to run. We have tried

to put in extra volume. We have taken capacity and products from

other plants and cut them in. We have put the most modern machinery

we can end. We have tried everything. Where did it all go

wrong? The First Minister painted a rosy picture last year. I will be

meeting with the chief executive of the Vion Food whose company is to

establish a new centre of excellence in Broxburn creating 250

additional jobs and safeguarding 1000 others. Among the new jobs

will be up to 100 modern apprenticeships which is in line

with this Government's aim to use public support as a lever for job

creation and training opportunities. I know the whole chamber will

welcome this as the latest in a long line of international

companies showing faith in Scotland's future. But to the

instead of confidence and feed there was there are stationed.

want help to keep this plant open. Nobody wants to keep his back shut.

I have got five members of my own family working here. The majority

of people working in here have got all members of the family working.

Crisis talks are under way that bringing this plant back from the

brink may be difficult. I am anxious to make sure that we do

everything we possibly can do to retain this operation. We want to

retain employment within the the Broxburn plant and ensure that this

Platt can continue to have a very significant and substantial

opportunity to contribute to the Scottish economy and most

importantly to provide a huge level of employment ended the West

Lothian economy. This factory is the linchpin in Scotland's meat-

processing industry. They need are some of its size is in Yorkshire.

Their effect on pig farming north of the border could be huge. The

Scottish government has made much of this factory's worth to our

economy. Today's announcement is not as a devastating for those

losing their jobs - it is a blow to the industry as a whole.

I am joined by Aberdeen -- I am joined by Cabinet Secretary for

Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead.

The unions say they want to stop this factory closing. Can you do

that? The government recognises it is a difficult day for the

workforce. We recognise the seriousness of this threat to their

jobs. There is a 90 day consultation period. We are trying

to use this consultation period to try to save the jobs in Broxburn.

That is why we have said that this ministerial task force. You could

not consider putting public money into keeping the splat open could

you? We will keep a open mind. could you do? Let us see what comes

out in the next few weeks and months. I am asking what you as a

government could do. There is a lot of work under way to look at what

the options are. We have got some details about the background to

this. We stand ready to help at any way we can. It is too early to say

how that may be. It's would not be legal to put a government subsidy

into this company would it? There may be alternative companies that

want to come in. I just got to get this clear. This is a commercial

enterprise. It is working in a competitive environment. Presumably

it would not be possible legally for you in any way to subsidise

this company. Nor would you think it proper to do that. You have got

to be careful how you used public money. There are limitations to

what we can do. But we do not know yet what has been asked of us. That

is why we have said that his ministerial task force. You have

mentioned someone taking over parts of it. Is that one of the things

that are being looked at? That has happened a couple of times before

with the site has it not? A yes it has. The company today has said it

wants to go into listening mode over the next couple of weeks and

listen to any other companies. They want to listen to the unions and to

the Scottish government. We know this company is losing money at

this particular plant, but they have put a lot of money into trying

to make it viable. Why is it closing? You have heard what the

company has said. They said they have difficult trading conditions.

But why are the close in this particular plant? Vion Food is one

of the biggest food companies in the Europe. They have announced job

losses in Germany and in Holland, but this is three times larger at

least than any bout of job losses anywhere else in Europe. What

exclamation have been given for that? Their explanation is the

losses they are making on a daily basis. It is clearly a complex

planned. They have put a lot of effort into trying to make it work.

The irony is and is that they have full order books. Retailers want to

continue buying the products. they have full order books why do

they want to close the plant? Despite that the complexity of the

plant appears to have led them to make this loss. Their official

consultation on my lodgers tomorrow. We have a lot more negotiation and

discussion ahead. I understand that. The previous order said when it was

losing money before he sold it to Vion Food, that the plant was being

screwed by the supermarkets. Is this a factor in your view? It is a

cut-throat business. I hear regularly from processors in all

sectors who have got very difficult to retailers to deal with. That is

no doubt a factor. Is it also a factor that the supermarkets

appeared to not just be squeezing margins, but moving into doing

their job themselves. Vion Food themselves only a few months ago

sold a processing and packing factory in Chishan or two Morrisons.

Yes, and some companies are integrated. Some companies have

created new jobs. Retailers in some cases have actually helped save

jobs and rescue these plants in the past. I do not think that is a bad

thing. What we are interested in is the outcome for the jobs in West

Lothian. That is what we have to focus on. We have to produce got

that's of the highest quality that people want to buy in the shops and

that retailers want to stock. We have a platform in place and the

also have additional factors. NFU has said this is catastrophic

for the meat processing industry in Scotland. Is that true? We have a

situation where 80 % of Scotland's pigs go to that plant in Broxburn.

If that were to disappear, clearly that would present us with a big

challenge. The challenge it seems to present is that you send your

pigs somewhere else. To avoid it being called a catastrophe, the

first thing to do to try to save the jobs in West Lothian.

Ultimately we have big producers who have an outstanding reputation.

That is a starting point. We can avoid a catastrophe. Is it the case

that pig farmers are going to be left unable to dispose of their

animals because this plant closes down? We have to avoid if we can at

the plant closing down. What I am saying is that there is a market

for Scottish pig product and baulk product. There are other producers

in Scotland to are taking advantage of that. Clearly we want to try and

save these jobs in West Lothian. at least 10 years successive

Scottish governments have been advising all of us, particularly

schoolchildren, to eat less of a kind of stuff that is produced at

Hall's. Is there not an element of hypocrisy you sitting he says knew

what top quality products when your own government ministers and

quangos have been going into schools and trying to encourage

children to eat anything but this kind of stuff up? A at is not what

we say. We say you should have at balanced diet. Yes, eat fewer prize

is the blunt way of putting it. It is hardly surprising when the

factories making this that run into problems, is it? There is demand

for the products. Either you're educational methods are completely

ineffective, or you bear some responsibility for the fact that at

the site is buying themselves in trouble. We are not in a situation

like this because of a lack of orders in Broxburn. The orders are

healthy. Retailers are increasing their orders. Food exports are

increasing as well. More people around the world enjoy the products

Nigel Miller, the President of the National Farmers Union Scotland,

joins me from Edinburgh. What did you mean when you said the effect

would be catastrophic? That was aimed at the actual plant Approx

won in that the employment impact of ceasing production there would

be catastrophic to that economy. We are optimistic that the industry in

Scotland has a way forward here. Hopefully, on that side, but if not,

it is important that we continue processing in Scotland. So that

will continue even if that factory closes down? Most of power

production goes to that plant. If that plant ceases to be in

production, we have the three months to see whether we cannot

develop other plants at -- to see whether we can develop other plants

around Scotland. Is this to do with margins being squeezed by the

supermarkets or is this an inefficient factory? It is still

early stages. This is a very complex aside. Most of the jobs are

in processing, not in slaughter. I think there are some basics. This

plant is running at below capacity. That is not good for economies of

scale. Getting a good price for the product is very difficult with the

major retailers as well. What are your ambitions? As far as I

understand, it seems to be at gigantic slaughter house and a meat

processing factory. If it -- if at the slaughterhouse remained open,

would that goes some way to meeting the concerns of farmers? Was to be

see what parts of the plant are performing and are efficient, we

will see what is sustainable. About 10% of the workforce is employed in

this slaughtering part of the business. The rest of the workforce

are in processing. There are several different lines of

processing and some of them could be underperforming. The company

that owns this plant, it is itself owned by a co-operative of formers

based in the Netherlands. -- FA weres. -- farmers. Why don't

Scottish farmers have the Enterprise are two set up an

operation like this? In reality, we have been bad at co-operating.

There is a history of having corporate of that sort of link in

Scotland. But not on the scale? as successful as Vion. That is a

world-scale company. There are lessons to be learnt that we have

to get better at collaborating and investing in our future. At the

moment, there are signs of that starting. But there are signs of

wholesale failure in the British farming industry. This is not just

one company. It is easy to make this an example of failure in

Scotland. In reality, our beef processing is probably the envy of

many parts of Europe. Our export record is extraordinary. And that

is all in the hands of private companies. Thank you very much.

Now, if you glance out the window, it may not be raining. But do not

under any circumstances remain optimistic! The Met Office has

issued alerts for heavy rain this weekend. Rain cancelled the

Scottish Game Fair at Scone last weekend and good luck if you are

In the Park this weekend. But why It has been a rocky start to some

were with torrential downpours or rather than warm sunshine. --

summer. Train services have been badly affected. If this continues,

events across Scotland could be affected. T in the Park this

weekend looks decidedly wet. We are used to bad weather, but there is

no end in sight. What exactly is going on? Is there any hope of a

full day of sunshine? Graeme Forrester who is a civil

contingency advisor at the Met Office is in Edinburgh.

Why is it raining so much? weather patterns are quite unusual

this year. There is a stream of wind in the highly atmosphere

called the jet stream and normally we expect that to be further north.

This year, it is very far south, pulling the Depression right across

the United Kingdom and consequently, we are getting more rain. A few

years ago, we were blaming the jet stream of four cold snaps. It moves.

It is a band of strong winds that meanders around the globe.

Depending on exactly where it is positioned, this system is tears

depressions, low pressure systems which bring bad weather. The jet

stream stews these across the atmosphere and depending on where

debtors would depend with those depressions end up. Is this

behaviour of the jet stream connected in any way with climate

change? There is a lot of variability within the atmosphere

so we cannot say. As the atmosphere warms up, it can hold more moisture.

There is the potential then for much heavier downpours. We have

been it seemed that across the world -- or we have been it seemed

that. That is consistent with global warming. But it is not

necessarily the absolute answer. What exactly are the Civil

contingencies that you advise on? The role we have is to link him

with emergency responders, police, fire and ambulance services.

Anybody who response to emergencies such as those caused by severe

weather. Our role is to liaise with these people and give them any

weather advice that they might require saw that they can help

manage and a deal with emergencies. Presumably, you were talking to the

people running T in the Park this weekend? We are talking to the

police and fire who are preparing for any eventuality. The Met Office