'Sadness' and 'anger' in Perth as Ovo set to close its office in the fair city
The energy firm is set to close its Perth office and cut a quarter of its workforce
MP for Perth and North Perthshire Pete Wishart says residents in the city will be filled with "sadness" and "anger" as Ovo Energy are set to close their Perth Office.
The energy firm are set to cut 1,700 jobs, which equates to a quarter of its UK workforce. Staff were given details of plans on Thursday, which include reducing the number of offices from 10 to three.
The three remaining offices are set to be in Glasgow, Bristol and London. The company, which has 4.5 million customers, is also set to open an Ovo Academy in Glasgow.
Our reporter was at the SSE headquarters in Perth this afternoon.
Pete Wishart is disappointed by the news, saying: "I'm massively disappointed that Ovo have decided to move out of the Inveralmond operation in Perth. This will be a a significant loss of jobs and a massive impediment to the labour market right across the whole of the Perth area."
The MP added that he was frustrated that the energy firm are going back on their promises to the fair city, saying: "Ovo came in and took over from SSE a few years ago with all sorts of promises' and commitments. They were here to stay and that they would develop the facility and the whole operation.
"What we find today (13th January), and I know it's a challenging environment for energy companies just now, what we've found today is that instead of developing and moving on and progressing this as an operation, they're closing it down. I think there will be real sadness and a lot of anger tonight here in Perth."
Alongside Deputy First Minister John Swinney, Wishart is calling for a meeting with Ovo to find out how staff in Perth will be affected. He said: "We're hoping to meet with Ovo on a cross party basis. I know my colleagues Jim Fairlie and John Swinney will be joining me in a meeting and I understand that other politicians around the area will be joining us in that call too.
"This is serious stuff for Perth. Ovo, or former SSE, were one of the biggest employers in Perth, it supplied so much energy to the whole of the Perth economy. We really need to now know from them exactly what their plans are, if there's anything that could be done first of all to salvage some of the decisions that are made.
"The workforce will be at the heart of all of our considerations and we'll be round the table, seriously, with them to see what more could be done."
The MP stressed his commitments to the workforce, saying: "The most important thing in all of this is the workforce. We have to ensure that they are now appropriately catered for and the arrangements are put in place to ensure that everything possible is done to find them alternative employment or a voluntary redundancy package."