Readers Letters: If UK Government will support English refinery, why not Grangemouth?

Speaking on the matter in the House of Commons, Energy Minister Michael Shanks stated: “The government will ensure supplies are maintained, protect our energy security and do everything we can to support workers.”

While any action on the part of the government to save jobs is commendable, I know that Michael Shanks and his fellow Scottish Labour MPs are aware of the recent closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, which was every bit as important to Scotland’s energy security as the Prax Lindsey refinery is to the people of the East of England.

It is not an unfair question to ask Mr Shanks and the UK Labour Government why they were prepared only a few months ago to sit back and watch the Grangemouth refinery and its workers being thrown onto the scrapheap, yet now when a refinery based in the East of England comes under threat of closure, immediate measures are being put in place to save it?

Prior to last year's general election Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar went on record to state that if Labour was elected it would prevent the closure of Grangemouth. The people of Scotland now know Labour did nothing to save Grangemouth.

The Labour Party, and particularly, Messrs Shanks and Sarwar, need to explain why keeping open the oil refinery in Lincolnshire is more important than the same action for Grangemouth.

During the 2014 independence referendum the Labour Party in Scotland was in the vanguard of the Better Together campaign. Some workers who've lost their jobs at Grangemouth might be asking themselves, “Better for whom”?

Jim Finlayson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire

Disaster masters

Kenny MacAskill of Alba attributes the rundown of the North Sea to Ed Miliband. Mr Miliband has indeed come over as an eco-zealot in his time in office, obsessed by impossible timescales and unimaginably expensive dreams of net zero, oblivious to the human misery and energy deprivation involved in what he proposes.

However, in the greater scheme of things the SNP are by far the greatest single cause of the disaster of ending North Sea oil and gas decades prematurely. Compared to the nationalists and their Green allies' constant denigration of the industry over many years, including Grangemouth, Ed Miliband has been a recent and minor figure and has only held office for a year.

The nationalists have their own super and not-so-smart eco-zealots. What other countries, not having the UK's natural wealth in energy, must think with these innocents in charge of our resources is mindboggling.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

End dependency

A 40 per cent increase in small boat crossings and a year of U-turns has Labour struggling to maintain the trust of its voters, as well as its own MPs. With 11 million people of working age not working something radical needs to be done. Of 3.7m claiming Personal Independence Payments, 2.4m are new claimants, mainly for mental health reasons. The Scottish Government spends over £33 billion a year on welfare, more than Health. Like the UK Government, which spends proportionately less at £275bn,it cannot stand by and avoid making savings or, as Labour are doing, make a hash of what will be just a 1 per cent welfare saving. Around a quarter of working age people are not working and when pensioners are included, as many adults are in work as not working. This is unsustainable and it seems Labour will need to freeze tax thresholds. If pensions, defence and health are going to be protected something else has to give. Going “further and faster” on growth also demands getting a grip on the burgeoning welfare bill. If escalating borrowing for future generations is to be avoided the dependency culture in Scotland and the rest of the UK must end without impacting the most vulnerable.

Neil Anderson, Edinburgh

Not a poor show

Recent analysis shows that levels of relative poverty in Scotland have been lower than in the UK as a whole for the last two decades. This is surely a vindication of the policies pursued and adopted by successive Scottish governments over that time and strongly suggests that Holyrood administrations have been far more effective in looking after the needs of the people they represent than those in Westminster and the Senedd.

To give some examples, in 2024 the level of relative poverty in the UK was 21 per cent while Scotland stood at 20 per cent (England and Wales were slightly above the UK figure). In terms of child poverty Scotland's percentage fell from 25 per cent in 2021 to 23 per cent last year. In both England and Wales rates in 2024 were 31 per cent, exactly the same as in 2021. (Steve Witherden, Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr has indicated he would be in favour of the Welsh government introducing something similar to the Scottish Child Payment.)

The relative poverty rate for people of pension age in Scotland was 15 per cent in 2024 compared with 16 per cent for the UK as a whole.

If the Scottish Government can outperform the UK and Welsh administrations in such a key measure of quality of life with one hand tied behind its back, as at present, we can only imagine how far ahead an independent Scotland would be. Our country simply cannot afford to be held back any longer!

Alan Woodcock, Dundee

Britain needs PR

The Labour Welfare Reform Bill, after multiple concessions, stumbled over the line, despite 49 backbenchers rebelling. How many arms were twisted en route to this pyrrhic victory, which leaves the Party mortally wounded and the Government perhaps terminally unpopular?

The only victor in all of this is the increasingly likely figure of Nigel Farage. A recent poll makes him more popular than Keir Starmer. Both Labour and the hapless Tories, under the even more unpopular Kemi Badenoch, are sleepwalking into a Farage premiership at the next general election.

Our crazy first-past-the-post voting system could see that result with Reform UK winning with just 28 per cent of the vote. Labour, a year ago, polled just 34 per cent of a low turnout to win a stonking majority.

Please, let's bring in a proportional representation form of polling before it's too late.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

New approach

It is reported that the SNP has a “massive £5 billion budget black hole” which can only result in cuts to services or tax rises. Let us not forget that it is the same folks behind this fiasco who back the campaign for “Scottish independence”.

Then we learn of the SNP's opposition to defence spending, particularly, of course, towards nuclear weapons. Just what sort of fairyland do the SNP live in if they fail to recognise the dangers of conflict in today's unsettled world? Do they suppose that violent dictators respect the wishes of uninformed pacifists?

Just when will the good people of Scotland realise that they are governed at Holyrood by what amounts to a minority administration with, until recently, unelected Green Party support?

What Scotland needs urgently is a fresh approach to the regional government at Holyrood, or closure of this unsuccessful institution.

Robert I G Scott, Northfield, Ceres, Fife

Tapestry tragedy

It was interesting to read about Martin Roche's visit to the Borders, particularly his take on The Great Tapestry of Scotland based in Galashiels (“Why troubled Borders region is pinning its hopes on 'game-changer' Center Parcs”, 1 July). He must be one of the very few visitors to the attraction which he ranks in the top ten. I hope his piece encourages readers to flock to it.

Residents have a very different perspective. When considering taking on the tapestry – which no other area wanted – Scottish Borders Council engaged expensive consultants who told them 50,000 people would visit the Tapestry each year, that is 1,000 per week. It doesn't happen – barely a fraction of that number visit. The only well-supported part of the venue is the coffee shop.

To subsidise the Tapestry the council is shutting essential, enjoyed and valued community services. Most of the fellow Border residents I speak to would prefer to have community centres and swimming pools than the Tapestry. I do hope the proposed Centre Parcs development near Hawick lives up to expectations.

Mary Douglas, Glendearg, Galashiels

Truth out there?

I have an odd phenomenon to report. Perhaps a reader can help me out on this? It was on the night of 2-3 July and my wife and I had stayed up watch some pre-recorded nonsense on TV. It was rather late – or, perhaps, early – being at 12.50am. To our surprise, a sudden, bright light appeared to our south, so over the Morningside Drive area. The light was like a ball of flame and just as bright. It appeared to be no more than a couple of hundred feet up. It lasted no more than two seconds and was gone. We have double-glazing, so I don't know if there was any sound, but I opened the window and stuck my head out and there was silence.

What could it have been? A meteor would surely not have just been a sudden flash?

Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh

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