Sir Keir Starmer has pledged £200m to repurpose the oil refinery, but there are no concrete plans, writes TERRY MURDEN
Harold Macmillan famously said, “events, dear boy, events” have a habit of dictating the fortunes of Prime Ministers. Sir Keir Starmer has certainly a long list of potential opportunities and hazards confronting him, top of which is Ukraine and a pivotal meeting with Donald Trump. As the Labour leader addressed party members in Glasgow at the weekend there was one other item in particular that delegates were eager to hear about: the future of Grangemouth.
From what he said to the conference, and later to the media, one thing now appears certain: Grangemouth’s days as an oil refinery are over. There is no private buyer waiting in the wings and no prospect of the government nationalising it. The refinery will close and the site will need to seek a new purpose.
We also know that £200 million has been pledged from the National Wealth Fund, which recently made its first investment in Scotland by supporting a new manufacturing facility near Glasgow to make biodegradable bottles. This is the sort of thing that Grangemouth is likely to be doing if someone takes it, as planned, down the renewables route.
What we also know is that the £200m will be drawn down as private investors commit to the site. Without them, there will be no activity and no release of funds.
We also know that there are no investors waiting to invest in Grangemouth. If there were, Sir Keir would have used the opportunity on Sunday to tell us. Instead, he said that he expected the government’s investment to attract “three times” as much from the private sector, a total of £800m.
All this means that apart from a promise, there is nothing on the go. And we know what has happened to other promises from the Labour government.
One union is optimistic that the money will be invested and that all 400 workers losing their jobs at the refinery will be re-employed. Well, that means someone has to get their fingers out pretty damn quickly.
Sir Keir offered most certainty around the compensation packages being offered to those workers. Eighteen months full pay and an offer of national insurance relief for any company in the area which gives them a job.
This sounds like a get-out-of-jail card for Sir Keir who knew that he could not leave Glasgow and fly off to Washington without providing something for his Scottish leader to offer those criticising the party for inaction.
The £200m will now feature in every speech given by Anas Sarwar between now and next summer’s Scottish election. The only question remaining is whether any of it will be spent.
Terry Murden was Editor and Business Editor at The Sunday Times Scotland, Business Editor at The Scotsman, and Business and City Editor at Scotland on Sunday. He is now Editor of Daily Business.
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