Why Grangemouth is a vital test case for Scotland's oil and gas industry

However, work on Project Willow – designed to create new businesses and jobs to replace those being lost with the closure of Grangemouth’s oil refinery – only began after Labour won last year’s general election. That the SNP and Conservatives were unable to similarly put aside their differences should shame both parties.

Willow is a serious piece of work, carried out by the leading consultancy firm EY. It suggests nine different low-carbon industries, including plastics recycling, hydrogen production and e-methanol for aviation fuel, could be set up, potentially creating some 800 jobs by 2040.

‘Best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men’

Both UK energy minister Michael Shanks and First Minister John Swinney said they were leaving “no stone unturned” in their efforts to secure the future of the site. And, perhaps more importantly, Petroineos, the company that runs it, said the Project Willow report was a "milestone event" with the potential to create “many more jobs and growth opportunities across a variety of related industries”.

However, the problem is that, to quote Robert Burns’ To A Mouse, “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/ Gang aft agley,/ An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,/ For promis’d joy!”

There has been much talk about a “just transition” from a fossil fuel-based economy to one in which electricity is the dominant source of energy – what it means and how it should be carried out – but precious little action.

Avoiding fate of 1980s miners

What is needed now is hard evidence that it can actually work. Grangemouth represents a test case for the future of much of the North Sea ‘offshore energy’ industry.

Will it prosper as oil and gas diminish and renewable and low-carbon energies rise? Or will it experience the kind of devastating ‘cliff-edge’ job losses that hit the UK mining industry in the 1980s.

Our governments are saying the right things. Now they need to work hard to ensure that ‘promises’ of joy – and jobs – are actually kept.