Workers' Climate Action has issued the following press release:
The climate change minister, Joan Ruddock, yesterday refused to take any further action to prevent the closure of the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight, where workers are staging a picket and regular protests to protect their jobs.
Ruddock informed activists and constituents at a surgery in her constituency on Friday (August 7th) that the government had met with Vestas workers along with the RMT union and the TUC the day before, but said that Vestas had refused financial incentives to carry on production in the UK. Ruddock said that Vestas ‘wanted to move their own factory for commercial reasons.’
When pushed on the issue, Ruddock admitted that the government had not looked into the option of nationalisation, and refused to consider the option, despite the claiming that ‘We do agree on the general point of keeping manufacturing jobs in the UK.’
Ruddock attempted to justify the government’s position, saying ‘The government does not want to be producers of wind turbines.’
