(East Lothian) (Alba): What
recent discussions she has had with trade unions on the future of
Grangemouth oil refinery beyond 2025.
The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (): My Department attended
the Grangemouth industrial just transition leadership forum
alongside Scotland Office Ministers and representatives of Unite
the union on 28 March. We remain in close contact with the
Scottish Government and the owner Petroineos. My
hon. Friend the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero met
Scottish Government counterparts and Petroineos
management on 15 May and raised the importance of working with
the unions.
: Warm words are one thing;
tangible support is quite another. If Grangemouth closes,
Scotland faces the possibility—indeed, the probability—of being
the only major oil producing nation without refinery capacity,
yet €700 million has been found by the UK Government to support
an Ineos plant
in Antwerp while not a penny is available for Grangemouth. Is it
to be a Brexit bonus for Belgian workers and a P45 for those
Scots at the refinery?
: We are working with the
Scottish Government and Petroineos to understand
all possible options for the future of the refinery. I remind the
hon. Gentleman that the Conservatives are the only major party
who are backing the North sea, the biddings it brings in each
year and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that it supports,
while a new report last week showed that Labour's plan could lose
as many as 100,000 jobs in the next five years.
