A Labour MP has urged the UK Government to intervene to help the Grangemouth oil refinery remain open, saying there are “striking similarities” between the plant there and the Scunthorpe steel plant.
Brian Leishman said he hoped the UK Government would nationalise British Steel and take the plant at Scunthorpe “under Government control” – but also insisted that “the same should happen to the Grangemouth oil refinery”.
His plea came as MPs were recalled to Parliament for a rare Saturday sitting to debate a Bill aimed at blocking British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, from closing blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant.
Mr Leishman, the Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said he hoped that “ultimately” the Government’s action would “lead to nationalisation of British Steel at Scunthorpe and the saving of the jobs and the vital industry that is there”.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has already called on the UK Government to act to secure the future of the Grangemouth plant.
Posting on the social media site X, Mr Flynn said: “Why do Labour consider British Steel more important than Grangemouth?”
It comes as MPs debated plans which could see taxpayer money used to provide materials to the steelworks as well as opening the door to a transfer of ownership.
The debate took place after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer warned the future of the firm “hangs in the balance”.
Mr Leishman, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, welcomed the move – but said that action was also needed to help the Grangemouth oil refinery in his constituency.
© Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesHe said: “The PM recognises the strategic importance of Scunthorpe steel, he really should do the same for Grangemouth oil.”
The refinery there, which is Scotland’s only oil refinery, is due to close by the end of June this year, after owners Petroineos announced plans last year to convert it to an import-only terminal.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s House of Commons debate, Mr Leishman said: “I think we will see an announcement today that will see the Government taking intervention steps, take control and basically try to maintain operations, which is exactly what I have been campaigning and working for in Parliament for the Grangemouth refinery.”
Pressed on whether it was right for the Government to intervene when plants such as Scunthorpe and Grangemouth are losing money, the MP insisted: “There are striking similarities between Scunthorpe and Grangemouth.”
He said both plants are “generational employers and both are very much at the heartbeat of their local communities”.
Mr Leishman also said “their importance as industry goes beyond the local, they are vital to the nation’s economy and the nation’s security”.
He added: “The Government should intervene at Grangemouth to extend refinery operations until the new energy industries of the future that we are going to need are ready.
“That’s the only way we can really, truly achieve a just transition for workers and communities.”
Grangemouth and Project Willow
His comments came after the Project Willow report – which was funded by the Scottish and UK governments – set out a number of options for the future of the Grangemouth site.
However it said that around £3.5 billion of private investment would be needed.
And while hundreds of jobs are set to be lost when the refinery closes this year, the Project Willow report said that the future projects could create up up to 800 jobs by 2040.
Mr Leishman said: “I welcome what Project Willow is trying to achieve but I have got serious concerns over the timescales.
“If the refinery does indeed close in quarter two of 2025, that’s imminently, but the new energy industries are not ready and not operational and not there to provide the good, secure, well-paid jobs for the workers, then you have got the very definition of an unjust transition.
“Project Willow is welcomed, it should be accelerated at breakneck speed.
© Getty Images/iStockphoto“But what should happen is until we get to Project Willow’s recommendations and findings being operational, the refinery should maintain operations. It is the only definition of a just transition.”
Speaking in the Commons, UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told MPs that “doing nothing is not an option”.
He said: “We could not, will not and never will stand idly by while heat seeps from the UK’s remaining blast furnaces without any planning, any due process or any respect for the consequences.”
The situation at Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland “is not a comparable situation” to the one at British Steel in Scunthorpe, Mr Reynolds said.
The Business Secretary said the situation at Scunthorpe was “an exceptional situation, a unique situation” and concerned “whether we as a country want to continue to possess a steel industry”.
He asked MPs: “Do we want to make the construction steel and rail we need here in the UK, or do we want to be dependent on overseas imports?”