The Union has failed Grangemouth

THE UK’s mismanagement of Scotland’s only oil refinery, despite being a top 25 oil-producing nation, put the future of the Union itself on notice, as the workforce at Grangemouth received redundancy notices last week.

The job losses are a devastating blow to the Grangemouth and supply chain workforces but also a clear and present danger to Scotland’s energy security and economy. Scotland is energy-rich, yet Westminster is short-changing our country and our industries. The time for action is now, not tomorrow or next year.

The Scottish Government’s lack of ambition to squeeze out every inch of power to expose the walls of devolution through a robust industrial strategy is not just short-sighted; it is a missed opportunity. We need to plan and strategise for our future, not just react to what we are presented with. We must not let more opportunities slip through our fingers.

We must now say “enough!” after generations of managed decline of Scotland’s industrial base and exploitative mismanagement of our abundant resources by successive UK Treasury. A UK that UK governments – regardless of the colour of the rosette – that focus firmly on investment for growth in the populous electorates of London and south-east England.

Scotland is not the only part of the UK facing these challenges; Wales and many areas across England also struggle as an afterthought in Downing Street’s decisions.

However, Scotland is a nation, and Scottish MSPs and MPs were elected to represent Scotland’s interests. It’s a collective failure that we haven’t developed a robust and sustainable industrial strategy that clearly shows Scotland’s ambition and demonstrates the red, white, and blue barriers that stand in the way of Scotland achieving its potential. We need to act collectively as a nation to overcome these barriers.

The UK simply does not work for 8% of the population when Our valued resources are being extracted and then sold back to us as consumers while profits flow outwards across our borders.

Too many of our people increasingly struggle to maintain the very basics of a warm home in a country ripe with the potential for free, clean electricity to power homes and businesses.

Scotland is well placed to develop a foothold in energy-intensive emergent industries and provide export opportunities from surpluses. Yet we are restricted by the small thinking of those who lack interest in or real ambition for Scotland and all those who live here.

The UK Government rubbing Scotland’s nose in Grangemouth’s closure against a reported £600 million loan guarantee to one of the site’s owners, Ineos, for a project in Belgium as they proceed with the closure of Scotland’s only refinery, was the subject of my Portfolio Question on Thursday.

To add insult to injury, Ineos’s billionaire owner, Jim Ratcliffe, has received positive signals from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who did not blush at her enthusiasm for his lobbying overtures to his lobbying over a redevelopment around Old Trafford, home to Manchester United, in which he owns a 28.94% stake, while Grangemouth weeps.

Ratcliffe has been a critic of the UK’s “total lack of an energy policy”, saying “it is completely irresponsible [when] the rest of the world is encouraging local oil and gas production by incentivising production through sensible taxation ... that the UK seems intent on rapidly destroying North Sea production through punitive windfall taxes, disincentives and negative comments, making us totally reliant on overseas supplies and losing billions in potential revenue”.

Former first minister Alex Salmond, who was also a former oil economist, said in November 2023 that the Scottish Government he once led was now “asleep at the wheel ... instead of refining our own hydrocarbon product range with all the environmental benefits of proximity, Scotland will soon import them from around the planet, with a far greater carbon impact”.

Investment in the North Sea is fragile, and There has been mixed messaging about the future of Scotland’s oil and gas sector in the North Sea. Following the weak response to the court decision on the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields, the sector now seems to lean toward the “presumption against new licences”. This is a policy stance that could further hinder the growth of Scotland’s energy sector. You cannot create a “just transition” from a cliff-edge scenario.

The outcome from Grangemouth demonstrates not a “just transition” but a wilful decline.

The Great Scottish Energy Swindle – a term coined to describe the systematic exploitation of Scotland’s energy resources for the benefit of the UK – must be our clarion call for real action across Scotland, through independence.

Will this latest UK Government betrayal push the Scottish Government to use devolvedits powers creatively and urgently?

It will take a determined political will to deliver solutions such as a sustainable aviation fuel sector and establishing a National Energy Strategy, including a publicly owned National Heat Company, to tackle the root causes of fuel poverty across energy-rich Scotland.

Common Weal has serious proposals to use our devolved powers to begin turning the taps of our energy resources on so that the people of Scotland can heat their homes securely. Their latest paper, How To Own Scottish Energy, shared with all MSPs, highlights specific proposals to overcome reserved barriers and move to a real Green New Deal outlined in their excellent Our Common Home publication.

Meeting with the Common Weal team inspired me towards Scotland’s need for collective action on fundamental things for our future. I will work with colleagues to support such ambition, and I have lodged a motion in Parliament, Speaking With One Voice To Protect Scotland’s National Refinery Capacity, to harness a single voice on Grangemouth.

I will ask parliamentary colleagues to put aside political differences and join me in speaking with one voice from our national Parliament to a Westminster that has extracted benefits from Scotland’s energy sector for generations.

We must fight from Scotland for Scotland’s energy security and the future of a sector whose potential and benefits we cannot afford to slip through Scotland’s fingers again.

To my independence-supporting colleagues, the time is now to demonstrate the ambition needed to drive independence forward.

The UK ship is listing; Nigel Farage’s appearance in Scotland may sink it. We must now engage the disenfranchised and those unsure voters by offering a credible strategy to secure a prosperous future based on our ambitious vision. To finally secure Scotland’s energy future for the collective good of our people, we must focus on independence – nothing less.

[This article was first published in The National on 10.02.25]