Alba – Grangemouth Rally

Like many other Alba Party members, I’ll be marching in Edinburgh on Thursday in support of the Campaign to Save Grangemouth Refinery. We’ll be giving our full support to the Shop Stewards and Unite the Union, conscious that Alex Salmond saved the refinery not once but twice when he was First Minister.

Shamefully, Governments in London and Edinburgh are now either content to see it close or unwilling to take the steps necessary to save it. That’s why not just the workers, but Alba will be there. 

For Grangemouth’s fight is not just the workforce’s but Scotland’s. It’s closure would see not hundred’s, but thousands of jobs lost, and devastation wrecked upon not just the Forth Valley but across all of our land. Emigration would also beckon for many in what’s a young workforce. 

Whatever may be said, the plant’s profitable, the accounts making that clear, and even more would be made with a modest investment. But that has been denied both by the current owners and the UK Government. Yet hundreds of millions are being made available by the UK Treasury to allow Ineos to open a plant in Antwerp, Belgium.

The refinery provides not just fuel for Scotland but aviation fuel for every airport here and into the north of England. Closure threatens supply for all sectors of our society and economy, especially when we’re living in a very troubled world and access to energy is critical.

Closure would leave Scotland as the only major oil producing nation without a refinery. Many countries have many and even Norway has two. Scotland’s in the top 25 oil producing nations and yet will be left akin to other countries who provide far less, such as Trinidad and Tobago and the Congo. 

It will see our natural resource taken from our land and its people. Refined elsewhere, and then sold back to us at a profit, but with us paying the price at the pumps and in goods. It’s pure and simply exploitation.

The North Sea has provided trillions for the UK economy and the Forties pipeline bringing oil from the northeast lands there. As does a pipeline bringing fuel brought ashore at Finnart in Argyll. Closure will not just be economically catastrophic but environmentally damaging, as tanker traffic increases exponentially on both Forth and Clyde. Energy security similarly harmed.

It cannot be Grangemouth no more, energy rich yet our people fuel poor. That’s why we’ll be marching. For jobs, our community and our nation.