JOBS continue to be lost across Scotland. Within the last six months Cummings has announced the closure of its engine works in Cumbernauld and Devro has shut its manufacturing plant in Bellshill. In the banking sector the Bank of Scotland has announced a further 15 branch closures, Virgin Money seven and TSB seventeen. BiFab is reducing its three Scottish sites to a care and maintenance basis and IBM has put its 49 East Kilbride IT staff, contracted to Scottish Power, on notice.

All these firms have one thing in common. They are owned and controlled from outside Scotland. Twenty years ago at least some were still run from within Scotland: Devro, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Power.

Last year also saw the much more high-profile closure of the historic Caley rail workshops in Springburn. At that point the firm was ultimately owned by a German holding company, Mutares, that specialises in what is described as “equity engineering.”  This is not engineering as you or I know it. It is about “engineering” firms — buying them, stripping assets, merging, concentrating and if possible securing monopoly niches for particular products.