"KEEP GRANGEMOUTH WORKING" say ALBA MPs in Common's Finance Bill Debate

ALBA Westminster Group Leader Neale Hanvey MP and Alba Depute Leader Kenny MacAskill MP are today (Wednesday) highlighting the importance of saving Scotland’s only oil refinery at Grangemouth in the Second Reading debate of the Finance (No. 2) Bill.  The Alba MPs have tabled an amendment which declines to give the Bill a second reading on the basis that it “fails to bring in tax measures to support the continuation of the oil and gas sector in Scotland, including the refinery at Grangemouth”. 

In addition it “fails to recognise that ….88.7% of North Sea revenue” from the Energy (Oil and Gas) Profits Levy was attributable to Scotland in 2022-23 and “ fails to extend the scope of the levy to include all new offshore wind farms.”

In a statement Neale Hanvey MP said:

“It is unacceptable that Scotland’s oil and gas resources are being used as a cash cow by the UK Treasury while a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the future of Scotland’s oil refinery at Grangemouth.  The hard political truth is that if Grangemouth was situated in the south east, the midlands or the north of England there would be absolutely no question of it closing.

“The people of Scotland are entitled to ask why our massive renewable energy resources are being sent south, together with the tax receipts from the Oil and Gas Energy Profits Levy while the future of the oil and gas sector hangs in the balance and Grangemouth oil refinery is under threat of closure.

"Enough is enough. It’s time to call a halt to the great energy swindle of Scotland’s resources.  It’s  time for Independence”

In a statement Kenny MacAskill MP said:

“It is immoral that the UK Government is sitting idly by and allowing Scotland’s only refinery to close when nearly 90% of the revenues raised by the UK Government’s Oil and Gas Energy Profits Levy has come from Scottish waters.

“This is exploitation plain and simple. Many of us have come to expect this from the UK Government but it’s well past time for the SNP to step up to the plate and back the workers at Grangemouth, back Scotland’s industrial economy, and keep Grangemouth working”