SCOTTISH Industry Minister Brian Wilson yesterday rounded on critics of the Government's inward investment strategy which has been ridiculed following Taiwanese company Lite-On's decision to impose huge redundancies.
Clearly smarting over reaction to the embarrassing move, Mr Wilson said: ''It is extremely naive to suppose there will never be setbacks for inward investment companies. Indigenous companies which trade in the global market are subject to exactly the same risks and pressures.
''It is easy for critics to jump on the passing bandwagon of scepticism towards inward investment. However, they have an obligation to think through the implications of their line of attack. My own position is one of 100% support for the work of Locate in Scotland - last week, this week, next week.''
Mr Wilson was speaking at the launch of a derelict land strategy for Lanarkshire - the region contains a third of all Scotland's derelict land - which proposes reclaiming 160 sites within a decade and doubling the number of brownfield sites available for development.
His statement was backed by Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar who said there would be no fresh review of industrial investment strategy in Scotland following the Lite-On crisis and no panic.
Mr Dewar said he did not consider Scotland to be over-dependent on inward investment and therefore unduly vulnerable to cyclical pressures
He said: ''If you ask me if we should be getting into a panic, I say very definitely no. The value of our inward investment is still very substantial. We should look at the enormous success story of inward investment over the years. We have had an enormous growth of companies from Europe and America and elsewhere.
''The value of these jobs in Scotland is very substantial. Over the past five years, more than 420 incoming firms have safeguarded or created 60,000 jobs. If you go and ask people who work at NEC at Livingston or at IBM at Greenock what they think about this, they will leave you in no doubt about how they see the value of inward investment - and that is repeated all over the country.
''I am very sorry about what has happened at Lite-On - but over the past five or six years the overall story is a good one.''
Mr Dewar emphasised the importance of Scotland remaining in the business of state-of-the-art technology. This meant inward investment had to be pursued. ''But this does not mean a one-track approach. I think it would be very silly to give the impression than we do not want inward investment. It is still terribly important.''
A strategic review is going on currently at Scottish Enterprise on the balance between inward and indigenous investment. But Mr Dewar insisted this had been in place before the latest foreign investment crisis and had nothing to do with current events. ''Scottish Enterprise also has a very, very important input in helping our own industry to grow,'' he said.
Meanwhile, the crisis-hit Taiwanese electronics firm Lite-On says it is determined to stay in Scotland and fight its way back into the ''cut-throat'' world market.
The pledge, which will have a hollow ring for the 230 axed workers, came at a meeting between bosses and Hamilton North MP Dr John Reid at the #40m Lanarkshire plant yesterday. Later Dr Reid said he was ''deeply disappointed'' by the axing of two-thirds of the workforce but added that the most important thing was to safeguard and build on the remaining jobs.
''If you are asking me if I subscribe to the view that foreigners are coming here to steal our money, the answer to that is no.''
Dr Reid said the Lanarkshire economy had diversified since the steel closures of the 1980s and early 1990s, and that only limited reliance had gone on new inward electronics investments.
He said that only about 15% of the Lanarkshire workforce was employed in this area, while the figure for steel had been much greater.
Dr Reid added that a priority now was to make sure the axed workers were given as much help and support as possible.
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