ALBA lay wreath at Grangemouth as closure marks a "seminal moment"

Alba Party Leader Kenny MacAskill and Falkirk Independent councillors Cllr Brian McCabe (Denny/Banknock) and Cllr Bob Spears (Grangemouth) have today (Friday 2 May) unveiled a "Tombstone from Scottish Labour" and laid a wreath to mark the end of oil refining at Grangemouth.

The "Tombstone from Scottish Labour" reads: "in loving memory of GRANGEMOUTH REFINERY, 1924-2025. With sympathy from Scottish Labour. Our thoughts are with Scunthorpe."

In a statement Alba Party Leader Kenny MacAskill said:

“The ending of oil refining, after 100 years, at Grangemouth is a seminal moment. Scotland is now the only major oil producing nation to be without its own oil refining capacity. The workers were promised that their jobs would be safe if they voted Labour at the 2024 Election.

"The promises made have been broken and the workers at Grangemouth have been cynically cast aside. Oil refining at Grangemouth has been sacrificed while steel making at Scunthorpe has been saved.

"Scottish Labour will never be forgiven by the workers, their families and the local community for this betrayal.”

Also attending Cllr Bob Spears the Councillor for Grangemouth ward said:

“The workers of Grangemouth have no quarrel with the workforce at Scunthorpe but are rightly angry that their jobs were not worth saving, in the eyes of the UK Government while the plant at Scunthorpe was. The workers and community of Grangemouth will never trust Labour again.”

Continuing Cllr Brian McCabe the Councillor for Denny/Banknock ward said:

“We are seeing an economic catastrophe taking place with far reaching social consequences for the communities and small businesses of Grangemouth and Falkirk which is all the more tragic because it did not need to happen.

"A UK Government willing to invest in Grangemouth as it has done in Scunthorpe could have saved the plant and guaranteed the jobs for years to come. UK Government Ministers should hang their heads in shame at the economic vandalism which they have inflicted on Grangemouth.”

Concluding Kenny MacAskill said:

"With Scottish Labour Scotland always loses. The ending of oil refining at Grangemouth shows beyond any doubt that there is no salvation from London Labour.

"Nothing demonstrates the need for Independence more than the failure of Labour in London to save Scotland's only oil refinery and a key national strategic asset. Scotland needs to take control of our own destiny into our own hands."