NOVEMBER 12, 2013: Many jobs in Inverclyde could be put at risk if Scotland voted for independence, it was claimed.

Former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling MP, was speaking after launching the cross-party ‘Better Together’ campaign in Greenock.

It was aimed at encouraging a ‘no’ vote in the 2014 independence referendum.

He said several major employers were based in Inverclyde because they could sell their products easily across the border to England, but that might not be so easy if Scotland was not part of the United Kingdom’s ‘single market’.

(Image: Newsquest)

“Launching in Greenock was important to us for a number of reasons,” Mr Darling, the campaign chairman, said:

“Inverclyde is a good example of the arguments we make.

“If you take the Clyde generally, there are around 4,000shipyardjobs in and around Govan that depend on there being a Royal Navy.

“There’s spin-off work at Fergusons in Port Glasgow and there’s Faslane, which employs a lot of people from Inverclyde and the wider area whose livelihoods depend entirely on there being that submarine fleet in Faslane.

“If it gets shipped out, the idea that a much smaller Scotland could retain everybody working with a much smaller armed force flies in the face of everything else that’s going on in the world.”

Mr Darling said jobs were also at stake in non-defence companies in Inverclyde. He said: “IBM has a call centre that deals with calls well beyond Scotland. You’ve got Texas Instruments and also Royal Bank of Scotland.

“These companies have come here not just because it’s a good place and a good quality workforce, but also because they can sell into the rest of the United Kingdom without any question whatsoever and, for that matter, into Europe.

“In the UK there is currently nothing to stop you selling and buying across the border. We have the same regulatory regime.

“What you see in Inverclyde is a microcosm of the wider Scottish argument for staying in the UK.”