THE recent announcement by BT/EE to leave their premises in Greenock is the latest body blow to our community.

Corporate bodies will always retract back to HQ when things get tough.

Satellite locations will close and jobs will be rationalised. The effect on the local community can be devastating.

Along with local job losses there will be a negative economical fallout locally. Less money will be spent in shops and transport. And an extra strain will be put on the purse strings of many.

During the Labour Party conference in Glasgow at the weekend the Communication Workers Union’s (CWU) regional secretary Craig Anderson said, regarding the reported BT/EE closure in Greenock, “I can stand here and say with confidence today with the work that our union has done that BT will give every single person currently employed at that site a job.”

And I commend him on the work the union have done to get to this stage. But he also clarified his remark with “But that job will be based in Glasgow“.

Of course, it doesn’t end there but we must deal in realism. When the local management is in the situation where it can, and is prepared, to fight, better outcomes are possible. The case in point being the superb job done by Gerry McCarthy in bringing Diodes to Inverclyde when Texas Instruments were leaving.

Unfortunately, BT/EE is more akin to Amazon, where the decision has been made at such a level that local management or trade unions can’t reverse it.

Harsh but true and time to stop the petty party politics and focus on the job in hand which is always about keeping and bringing jobs into Inverclyde.

We need to do more to support local companies. It’s fashionable to knock Ferguson Marine and CMAL. Caledonian MacBrayne get their share of criticism and McGill's Buses always have their detractors.

Rather than wait for someone to fail and then set up another taskforce asking the Scottish or UK governments for more money, we should be actively reaching out to local companies and asking what we need to do to ensure they are happy and sustainable in Inverclyde.

All jobs have value but in the long run we need to ensure that companies whose HQ is in Inverclyde are supported and don’t face the threat of closure, while continuing to encourage inward investment into Inverclyde.

We should be doing everything we can, within our powers, at local and national government to support Inverclyde based companies and organisations.

That doesn’t necessarily mean money, it means a working relationship so as a better understanding of the opportunities and obstacles can be shared.

Growing our own and helping those capable of doing so would give us a far stronger employment base.

It also provides a positive identity and greater loyalty. Once again, I am saying Inverclyde has to consider how it can help itself and identifying the key partners is crucial in that.