Allegations that the locate in Scotland team tried to poach away an electronics company using a bribe from a hard hit unemployment black spot in NE England has sparked a major row.

Viasystems, a printed circuit board manufacturer , is to receive £12m by the Department of Trade and Industry to reinvest in Tyneside after the English development council noted the company was to move to Lanarkshire (S. Scotland) with the help of the LIS grant.