IT was not that long ago that it seemed you could walk just a few yards in Scotland and you would bump into a skilled worker.

Pupils would literally walk out of school on a Friday and be working in places such as shipyards on the Monday, where they would start an apprenticeship scheme.

Virtually every famous Scot of a certain age started in shipyards, foundries or other places before moving on to become outstanding in other fields such as Sir Billy Connolly and Sir Alex Ferguson.

Of course, those days are long behind us sadly but there are still a great many people employed as skilled workers up and down the country.

But there are now genuine fears that the country will miss out on what is being described as an 'industrial revolution sized opportunity' due to a chronic lack of skilled workers.

Esteemed industry body Engineering Scotland have warned of a “deeply chastening” shortage in the sector.

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This is quite embarrassing from a country which gave the world engineering masters such as William Aroll, Thomas Telford and James Watt to name but a few.

But what is to blame for the shocking state of affairs?

Well, as ever, quite a lot of the blame lands at the feet of government incompetence but that is not the whole story.

The Scottish Engineering skills gap survey underlines deep-seated concern across the sector over cuts to work-based learning and apprenticeship funding, and the continuing impact of Brexit.

The........

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