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Then there’s the UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband who took to Twitter – erm, sorry, X – in a show of solidarity with the refinery’s employees.
“It is deeply disappointing that Petroineos have confirmed their previous decision to close Grangemouth oil refinery,” he said. “We will stand with the workforce in these difficult times.”
It was only back in July, in the early days after the Labour party’s landslide UK election victory, that Mr Miliband ordered a ban on new North Sea oil and gas licenses despite union fears that this could cause workers to “suffer the equivalent of the coal closures”. His party has hardly done anything to encourage energy companies to remain in the UK, with some going so far as to suggest that Mr Miliband should bear some of the responsibility for what is unfolding at Grangemouth.
Closer to home we had the First Minister John Swinney declaring yesterday that the closure was “premature”, and rather uselessly calling upon the refinery’s owners to think again. This is of course the same SNP government – albeit under different leadership – that has consistently thrown the cold shoulder at Jim Ratcliffe and his substantial investment at Grangemouth.
Mr Ratcliffe’s Ineos conglomerate makes up half of the Petroineos joint venture that owns the Grangemouth refinery, the other half being China’s state-owned PetroChina. The two have run the refinery – which sits within a wider industrial complex that includes a petrochemical plant and the Forties Pipeline System, both wholly owned by Ineos – since July 2011.
Mr Ratcliffe, who ranks among the UK’s richest men, has also drawn his share of fire for spending millions on Manchester United while workers at Grangemouth face redundancy.
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Mr Ratcliffe bought a 25% stake in the Red Devils in December of last year, just weeks after Petroineos first announced its intention to end refining in Scotland. This somewhat strangely drew the ire of environmental campaigners following the confirmation that Grangemouth will close.
“The approach of Scottish ministers has been entirely reliant on big business to dictate the terms and the pace of energy transition and everyone can see that it is failing both the climate and the workers and communities currently reliant on the fossil fuel industry,” said Rosie Hampton of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“Ineos have millions to spend on transfers at Manchester United but apparently nothing to spend on transitions for workers at Grangemouth.”
Altogether it’s ironic enough to almost be funny but for the seriously grave implications for the refinery’s employees and the wider economy. The Federation of Small Businesses has already warned that the shockwaves will be felt “across the length and breadth of the country”, and by Pertoineos’ own estimates provided to the Scottish Parliament, every refinery job eliminated will result in seven further positions disappearing throughout the supply chain.