Scottish Secretary of State Jim Murphy says the Western Isles businesses must continue to practice ingenuity if they are to survive the current economic crisis.
The Minister was in South Uist and Lewis on Thursday to meet the taskforce working to save local jobs at Hebrides Rocket Range.
One in six of the local population are now facing unemployment after the MoD announced it was planning to axe 125 jobs at the facilities on Benbecula and South Uist.
The Secretary said: “This is not a done deal. We’re still in the process of consultation and they (the task force) left me in no doubt about their genuine worries about the job losses – not just for the families – but for the island economy more generally.
“There’s no doubt the MoD face some very big financial challenges and they are trying to make savings. There’s been a long-term commitment here to the islands and the MoD would have to think very carefully before making these kinds of redundancies”.
The impact the closure of the rocket range would have on the islands is proof for some that the Outer Hebrides have relied too heavily on government jobs.
Western Isles Council Leader Angus Campbell said: “I think there’s a huge issue in terms of where we are as an economy. We’re very dependent on the public sector, whether it be local government or, in the case of Uist, very much dependent on the MoD.
“There has been no real spreading of that economy, so I think that’s proved that a lot of what’s tried to be done hasn’t worked to the extent that we’d have liked it to”.
One company bucking the trend is the Arnish fabrication yard, where fortunes were on the wane long before the recession bit. Now though, new work for the offshore windfarm industry has rejuvenated the firm.
Neil Campbell of BiFab said: “We’re now up to 63 full-time employees and we’re now seeing a level of work not seen here for at least three years. And we’re looking very optimistic towards a busy order book for the forthcoming year as well.
A decision on the future of the rocket range will be taken at the end of a month-long consultation process.
