Chrysler produced the Hillman Imp at the Linwood plant, which closed for good in 1981

James Callaghan’s Labour government ignored union warnings that its bailout of the Linwood car plant was doomed to fail, declassified documents reveal.

The closure of the car plant in 1981, with the loss of 4,800 jobs, is often held as a prime example of the Scottish deindustrialisation that took place under Margaret Thatcher.

Newly declassified Scottish Office documents reveal that the Transport and General Workers Union (T&GWU) warned that the rot set in before Thatcher came to power, but Labour ministers refused to listen. The Scottish Office dismissed these “depressing” warnings as the ravings of a disgruntled T&GWU shop steward “with a chip on his shoulder” and a “death wish for Linwood”.

Labour bailed out the Linwood car plant owner Chrysler in December 1975 and