§ 33. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his discussions with Mr. Ronald Hancock, managing director of Leyland Vehicles, on the future of the Bathgate Leyland plant.
§ Mr. Allan StewartDuring the discussions Mr. Hancock outlined the extremely depressed state of the markets for BL trucks. The virtual collapse of export demand for products produced at Bathgate has made the company's problems particularly severe despite the hard work and co-operation of the labour force in improving production. No conclusions could be reached however on the future of the Bathgate plant, since this is subject to futher study by the company and to the Government's detailed examination of the proposals in the company's 1984 corporate plan, which are both under way.