The firm announced in July that it planned to shut its Johnnie Walker bottling plant in Kilmarnock and its Port Dundas grain distillery in Glasgow, threatening 900 jobs.

A campaign was mounted to try to save the jobs, with alternative proposals drawn up which would have seen work continue at Port Dundas and a new site created in Kilmarnock.

However Diageo bosses rejected the proposals, claiming they failed to “deliver a business model that would be good for either Diageo or Scotland”.

But today Finance Secretary John Swinney said the key issues now are to provide support for the workers losing their jobs, as well as regenerating the affected sites.

“We owe it to the individuals and communities affected to work to mitigate the impacts that Diageo’s decision will have,” he told MSPs.

“I do fundamentally believe that Diageo have not properly appreciated the real impacts which the job losses will have.

“The impact will not just be on the communities and individuals but will represent costs that the public sector will be expected to pick up - costs which the consultants EKOS estimated to be in the range of £7 million to £14 million a year.”

The alternative business proposals were drawn up by a task force involving the Scottish Government, local councils, trade unions and Scottish Enterprise,

Mr Swinney said that task force will continue to meet, adding: “We know the scale of the impacts in Kilmarnock and Port Dundas will be significant.

“A key issue for the taskforce will be to manage engagement with Diageo. We must ensure their support towards regeneration activities. The Government will be working with all energy to ensure that takes place.

“The regeneration agenda is an issue which has to be addressed by Diageo as a due recognition of their responsibilities to the communities that have contributed to the company and its development over so many years.

“They must leave behind a positive legacy, they must meet their responsibilities to their employees and ensure the sites are restored and available for new use.”

The Finance Secretary also said the Government and the public sector has a “duty” to focus on supporting those who will be losing their jobs.

“As a matter of priority, an assessment of regeneration options and retraining and skills needs will be undertaken.”

And while the job losses will not take place until next year, Mr Swinney said: “Every effort must be taken to reduce the invidious uncertainty that individuals in these communities face.”

Although Diageo will shut its Port Dundas and Kilmarnock sites, the company has pledged to create 400 jobs at its packaging plant in Fife.

Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said Diageo’s plans will have a “real and serious impact” on people in Kilmarnock and Port Dundas.

But he said the decision to close the sites is now in the past.

The focus should now be on “what can be done not just to mitigate the impact of the job losses in Kilmarnock and Port Dundas but on how to turn the local economies around and build a sustainable and diversified range of employment opportunities”, according to Mr Brownlee.

“Simply attacking Diageo for a decision that has been taken does not do anything to bring new investment to Scotland or offer new hope to anyone who faces losing their livelihood as a result of decisions taken by the company.

“We have to look to the future, and all of us must be aware of the potential impact on those who may seek to invest in Scotland of how we portray the country as a place in which to do business.

“We cannot allow anger at one decision to spill over into a broader perception that Scotland is a place where it is difficult to do business. If we do, we will lose many more jobs to our competitor nations.”

However he too said Diageo must be involved in the regeneration of the sites.

“Diageo has indicated that it wants to play a part in the regeneration of Kilmarnock, and the Government is right to engage with them around that, because there must be a major contribution to regenerate the local area.

“All sides have shown a great deal of energy in opposing Diageo’s plans.

“The responsible thing to do now is to show the same energy in ensuring a future beyond Diageo for Kilmarnock and Port Dundas.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown, whose father was an exciseman at an Aberdeenshire distillery, said the campaign had united public opinion and made unlikely allies.

But he said: “I am troubled by the fact that an international company of major importance to Scotland thinks it can walk away from its social and environmental responsibilities.

“I am troubled about the approach taken by the company to the proposals.

“I am troubled by the proposition that public money, whether from the local authority or from central government, should be offered to that global company simply to ensure a different configuration of plants and workforce.

“I am troubled by whether the Scottish Government is showing a consistent approach to job losses of different kinds in different places.”

He said it is “strange” that the distillery can survive two world wars, the great crash of 1929 and Margaret Thatcher only to fall after nearly 200 years as a “victim of the current pressures”.

Mr Brown, a Glasgow MSP, said the Diageo redundancies got a lot of government attention despite not being the biggest net job losses.

The Borders textile industry, financial services and the construction industry have “not had the same attention”, he said.

Labour MSP John Park supported the Government’s motion, and added: “Our view was that this indeed did reflect the cross-party nature of the campaign but also much more importantly reflected the wishes of the trade unions.”

The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP called on Diageo to extend the 90-day “consultation” period with workers and to ensure “high-quality employment” in the proposed expansion in Leven, Fife.

“High-quality employment in my view needs to be permanent, not temporary or agency workers, and needs to be on the same conditions of employment as the existing workforce,” Mr Park said.

“The workforce are Diageo’s greatest asset, I’ve never ever doubted that, and my conversations and contact with shop stewards and workforce across the summer has reinforced that view further.

“These are people who are not only skilled and effective workers, they care about their industry, they care about their communities.

“One of them said to me yesterday at Port Dundas that they’ve been told so many reasons why the place had to close that they wondered why they were open in the first place.

“I think that level of humour injected into the discussions shows that while this is a serious situation that they’re looking to the future with some optimism.”

Willie Coffey, SNP MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, said the Diageo workers are “demoralised but not defeated”.

He said the closure decision was “a huge mistake, unrivalled in the corporate world.”

Repeating his call for Diageo boss Paul Walsh to visit the town, he said: “I am convinced that if Mr Walsh comes to Kilmarnock to listen to the workers, and to listen to them passionately about Johnnie Walker, he will begin to doubt the wisdom of walking away and leaving us empty-handed.

“The workers and people of Kilmarnock remain determined and cannot accept the loss of our famous son, Johnnie Walker.

“He is in our hearts and in our blood and we will fight to keep him.”

Patricia Ferguson, Labour MSP for Glasgow Maryhill, told of the “shock” felt by Port Dundas workers who had previously negotiated a series of changes to their conditions to help keep the company profitable.

“We know that demand for whisky is increasing, that markets like India and China have huge potential, and that Cameron Bridge (a Diageo distillery in Fife) will not come on stream for another two years,” she said.

“What we don’t know is why Diageo have rejected out-of-hand the sensible suggestion that Port Dundas be given a stay of execution until such time as Cameron Bridge is up and running.”

And Bob Doris, a Glasgow SNP MSP, said: “I urge Diageo to review their proposed closure date and show real consideration to the possibility that Cameron Bridge will not be fully up and running by that time.

“I would ask Diageo once more to review the risk of centralising much of its white and dark spirit distillation at the one location with a view to buying any shortfall on the open market.”

Marilyn Livingstone, Labour MSP for Kirkcaldy, said Diageo should have given the Scottish Government advance notice of its announcement and should now accept trade union pleas to extend its 90-day consultation period.

But she went on to welcome the Diageo’s planned £86 million investment in the Leven packaging plant in Fife.

“This is a boost for the people of Levenmouth,” she told MSPs.

The town has been called “the sick man of Fife”, with high rates of unemployment, single-parent families and sickness levels.

“The prospects of employment there will have a significant impact on the community’s health and well being,” she said.

“It is important the company dispels the rumours that nearly half the prospective jobs will be temporary or short-term contracts.

“I call on Diageo to confirm that the new jobs are high quality, full time and permanent.”

Ted Brocklebank, Tory MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife region, told MSPs: “There was no dancing in the streets of Leven last week when news came through that Diageo’s plans to locate 400 jobs in the area were to go ahead.”

He said local people are well aware that their good fortune means the loss of 900 jobs in Kilmarnock and Glasgow - with “heart-breaking” consequences for the families involved.

But while Diageo had social responsibilities to its workforce, it also has a responsibility for its remaining 4,000 employees in Scotland.

If the task force’s proposals had been accepted by Diageo, the future of the firm’s white spirit business in Levenmouth and jobs elsewhere in Scotland may have been jeopardised, according to Mr Brocklebank.

“The company rejected the proposals on the basis that they claimed they did not provide a sustainable business model that would be good for either Diageo or Scotland.

“On the facts as we have them, it’s difficult to disagree with that assessment,” he said.