How Grangemouth oil refinery's future can still be saved if we don't give up the fight
There is still a chance to be on the right side of history when it comes to Grangemouth oil refinery.
A chance to put workers and communities first, to put country before party. A chance to ensure a truly just transition to greener industries – and that can only happen if refinery operations continue until sustainable alternatives are in place on site.
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When the UK government published its Invest 2035 Industrial Strategy green paper last week, I believed it had Grangemouth written all over it.
It spoke about strategic industrial sites – that is Grangemouth. It spoke of the huge potential of clean energy industries flourishing. Where better than Grangemouth?
The green paper acknowledges there is rapid growth in demand around the globe for low-carbon products. It seems to me Grangemouth is the ideal place in Scotland to capitalise on that, but we must act now.
Two large airports are already served by the Grangemouth refinery, so why not invest in sustainable aviation fuel technologies? We know for a fact there will be increasing demand there. How about low-carbon hydrogen? There are plenty alternatives.
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Hide AdOil cannot and will not last forever, but it will be a part of the energy portfolio for some years yet and both the UK and Scottish governments know that.


There are so many opportunities that could be realised at Grangemouth in the years to come, but we must have greater control over its future.
The fact that we are allowing private capital and a foreign power to have such influence over the future of our energy mix and infrastructure is simply unfathomable to me.
This is not about balance sheets or bottom lines – with both governments quietly accepting the narrative that closure is a “commercial decision”.
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Hide AdNo, this is about a community losing its identity. This is about Scotland’s energy and national security becoming weaker. This is about investing in the future, in a piece of strategic infrastructure and in a highly-skilled workforce.
Importing fuel through a terminal, as Petroineos would have it, only serves foreign interests and will make our country dependent on others in an increasingly volatile and unstable world.
Let us not forget that this is Scotland’s only oil refinery, representing around 14 per cent of the UK’s total refining capacity.
If we are, correctly, bringing railways into public ownership for the national good, then why can we not at least take a transitional stake in this crucial piece of infrastructure that is so important to our daily lives?
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Hide AdAccording to a report from Scottish Enterprise, the refinery contributed £403.6 million to the economy last year, supporting 2,822 wider supply chain jobs. There are hundreds of well-paid jobs there; the average salary is around 45 per cent above the local norm in the town.
Meanwhile, some of Grangemouth is in the bottom segments according to the latest Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. The Scottish Government knows this.
Not only that, SNP ministers were told of potential closure years ago, long before the unions and workers knew. Yet the SNP have not bothered to lift a finger.
The defence of saying it’s a reserved matter is feeble. Like on so many issues, the SNP have been asleep at the wheel.
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Hide AdTo its credit, the Labour Government announced Project Willow very early after coming into office. But Project Willow is not enough, there should be no gap for workers to fall through.
It really seems to me this looming closure was ignored by those who are meant to be thinking on a strategic level. By those who are meant to look after our interests. And the human side of this issue must not be ignored either.
Speaking to workers, small business owners and the people of Grangemouth, they tell me of the anxiety they feel about the future.
Restaurants, pubs, cafés and snack vans in the area, who serve workers day-to-day, know they will lose custom if the refinery closes.
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Hide AdThe refinery is synonymous with Grangemouth. It has been an essential part of this community for over a century. It has provided opportunities for many in the town, to gain apprenticeships, world-class qualifications, a solid income and the chance to forge a career.
The workers created an industrious community, but this is being stripped away and eroded. I fear that in many ways, we are seeing a repeat of what happened four decades ago when the pits closed.
There are communities across Scotland that have still not recovered from that fallout, and we cannot allow the same to happen again.
Despite overseeing the closure of the plant, Petroineos is still benefiting from taxpayer-funded business grants and guarantees. Furthermore, as part of the Forth Green Freeport, Petroineos will enjoy tax relief and customs benefits in Grangemouth.
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Hide AdIt’s clear that Petroineos has an insatiable appetite for acquiring wealth, regardless of consequences to communities. Make no mistake, the taxpayer would be contributing to the refinery’s replacement with the import terminal operating on a fraction of the workforce the refinery currently needs.
There’s government money for Belgium, but not for Grangemouth. That isn’t right.
If that hasn’t convinced you that we need to change course on the future of the refinery, that both governments need to do much more and intervene, then I do not know what will.
The fight to keep Grangemouth working goes on.
- Brian Leishman is a Scottish Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth
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