Brian Leishman Parliamentary Contribution on the Grangemouth Refinery closure

Falkirk Herald

Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, Parliamentary Contribution on the Grangemouth Refinery closure announcement (12/09/24).

Transcript

00:00Madam Deputy Speaker, my contribution today is neither light-hearted or a happy one.

00:05The news that Grangemouth will stop refining oil in quarter 2 2025 is devastating. It's accurate

00:13to say that the mood music from the refinery owners has been pessimistic for quite some time now.

00:18Even with the threat of closure that's been hanging over the refinery, today's news is

00:22shocking. What is happening will be felt far beyond Grangemouth. It will reverberate around

00:28Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England, the areas of the UK that Grangemouth

00:32primarily services. Closure will impact all of the constituencies there. And Madam Deputy Speaker,

00:39please permit me to give a very brief history. 100 years ago Grangemouth was the perfect location

00:46for a refinery. There was an abundance of flat land, a bustling harbour and crucially an already

00:52skilled workforce was there. One that was experienced in shale refining. It was one of

00:58the first crude oil refineries in the UK and it is currently the primary supplier of aviation fuel

01:04for Scotland's main airports and a major supplier of petrol and diesel ground fuels

01:09across the central belt of Scotland. It also provides power to the Forties oil pipeline,

01:15bringing oil and gas ashore from the North Sea. While operations and procedures have changed over

01:21a century, a highly skilled local workforce remains a constant. Now I could detail the

01:28statistics about the Grangemouth site and how it contributes 4% of Scotland's GDP, how it is a key

01:34piece of Scottish infrastructure and while that is both accurate and of course pertinent while

01:38talking about the refinery, I want to talk about the human side of this issue. When the refinery

01:45was known locally as the BP, there were social clubs, gala events for families and Grangemouth

01:51was known as Scotland's boom town. The refinery and specifically the workers created a community,

01:58an industrious working class community where the jobs were dangerous, skilled and highly valued.

02:06The Grangemouth refinery has provided apprenticeships to local people, the possibility

02:11to gain experience in world-class qualifications that provide the opportunity of forging a career,

02:18a platform for self-improvement and social mobility. For those of us who represent

02:24constituencies with social issues, often born out of industry and leaving those communities,

02:30social mobility has become a negative journey, not a positive one.

02:36The comparison with the miners of four decades ago is a clear one. Like the miners of the 1980s

02:41who kept Britain warm, the refinery workers of Grangemouth keep Britain moving.

02:47What happened to the miners cannot be the fate of Grangemouth refinery workers.

02:53Over the last few months, the campaign to keep Grangemouth working has spread the message

02:58of extending the life of the refinery, of investing in the workforce and making sure

03:03that there is no gap that would see workers lose their jobs. I have stood in solidarity

03:09with the refinery workers and I will continue to do so. Unite the union has said that it does

03:14not accept that the future of the refinery should have been left to the whims and avarice of

03:19shareholders, and I completely agree. Energy security is intrinsically linked to national

03:26security, and for both to be in the hands of a foreign government and private capital

03:31is inherently wrong, not to mention utterly reckless. The primary ideal of the keep Grangemouth

03:39working campaign was to extend the life of the refinery so that a truly just transition

03:44could be achieved. That is what should happen, and there is nothing that will convince me otherwise.

03:52Oil will still be part of the energy mix for a while yet. The refinery workers know that.

03:57They also know that oil will not last forever. They know that cleaner industries must come,

04:03and when I listen to them, they tell me that they want to be part of a new green industrial

04:07revolution. There are so many of the skills that will be required for us to achieve net zero and

04:12make Britain a clean energy superpower. If there is a gap between stopping refining next year and

04:20these new industries being ready, the truth is that the workforce will be gone. Workers cannot

04:27hang around and wait. Mortgages need to be paid and families need to be fed. Jobs must be found

04:34or talent leaves. The impact of that on the local community and the local economy

04:40would be enormous. The shops, the pubs, the restaurants, the hotels, the cafes,

04:46the B&Bs and the snack vans will all suffer if the refinery were to close.

04:52As a Government, we must do everything we can. I welcome the steps that the Secretary of State

04:57and his team have taken, with the announcement of £20 million in the form of funding to support

05:02the community and its workers, and investing in local energy projects to create new growth for

05:07Grangemouth. Previously, I have spoken positively about Project Willow and the importance of it

05:12being a joint commitment between both Governments to determine what the industrial future of

05:17Grangemouth will be, because both the UK and Scottish Governments will need to work together.

05:23The new working relationship that this Labour Government has with the Scottish Government

05:27has already shown its worth. I know how hard the Secretary of State has worked during intensive

05:33discussions with the refinery owners to secure tailored support for the workers impacted,

05:38along with his counterpart in the Scottish Government, in devising a plan that will help

05:41secure Grangemouth's industrial future and protect the workforce. I thank them both for that.

05:47It shows what can be achieved when both Governments work together.

05:52However, it is just a start. This Labour Government has done more in eight weeks on this issue than

05:59the Conservative Government did in 14 years. Although shocking, today's news has been coming,

06:07because, truthfully, Project Willow or the like should have been done and delivered years ago.

06:16The workers in the Grangemouth community need action—action that leads to us creating

06:21something truly transformative and world-leading at Grangemouth. Sustainable aviation fuel,

06:26low-carbon hydrogen and clean e-fuels—let us not rule anything out of the equation for

06:31the Grangemouth site. However, we must act quickly, because time is of the essence.

06:37If we are to have a true, just transition—one that looks after workers and their communities—we

06:43must move with purpose and speed on determining the industrial future of the Grangemouth site.

06:48That has to be done while Grangemouth keeps refining, until these new energies are ready.

06:55The environmental need for a green industrial revolution has been there for a long time and

07:00discussed for ages, but now we see the social need for the transition to clean energy,

07:06and the need for that has been incredibly accelerated today.

07:17you

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