Diageo campaigners head to London

12 April 2012

A campaign to save hundreds of whisky jobs in Scotland is heading to London as bosses at drinks giant Diageo prepare to announce their latest profits.

The company revealed in July that it planned to close its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock, putting 700 jobs there at risk, while a further 200 jobs are under threat at the Port Dundas distillery in Glasgow.

A cross-party campaign has been launched to try to persuade the firm to change its plans.

Two workers from the Kilmarnock plant are joining politicians - including former Scottish Secretary Des Browne - at protests in London.

The campaigners - who will include SNP, Tory and Labour councillors - will first visit Diageo's headquarters in the capital. The group will then go on to the House of Commons.

The day will end with visits to 10 Downing Street and the embassies of some countries where Johnnie Walker is most popular.

Mr Browne, the MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, said: "This campaign has reached a stage where real progress is being made to help save the home of Johnnie Walker whisky."

Alternative proposals aimed at saving the 900 jobs have now been agreed by a multi-agency task force - which brings together trade unions, local authorities, Scottish Enterprise and politicians.

These could see production continue at the Port Dundas distillery in Glasgow, as well as the development of a new plant at Kilmarnock. And Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has vowed to put the plans to the drinks firm "swiftly".

Diageo has claimed it will offset the cuts by creating 400 new jobs at its packaging plant in Fife.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in