{"id":343425,"date":"2024-09-16T17:50:44","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T15:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343425"},"modified":"2024-09-16T17:50:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T15:50:47","slug":"britain-is-sleepwalking-into-a-mighty-industrial-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343425","title":{"rendered":"Britain is sleepwalking into a mighty industrial battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pushing through net zero is bound to create greater trade union and popular resistance<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland\u2019s last remaining oil refinery \u2013 Grangemouth \u2013 is to shut, we learned last week<\/a>, with the loss of 400 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plant \u2013 co-owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe\u2019s Ineos \u2013 is closing due to\u00a0the UK\u2019s incoming ban on new petrol and diesel cars<\/a>\u00a0to hit net zero targets. The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grangemouth produces most of the petrol, diesel, heating oil and aviation fuel used in Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. The closure, said Ineos, reflected lower fuel demand given the \u201cban on new petrol and diesel cars due to come into force\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, accused Grangemouth\u2019s \u201cbillionaire owners\u201d of \u201cindustrial vandalism\u201d, she also highlighted the car ban. \u201cThe road to net zero cannot be paid for with workers\u2019 jobs,\u201d said the boss of Britain\u2019s second-biggest union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Grangemouth, the Government recently confirmed the closure of the last two blast furnaces at the iconic Port Talbot steelworks, resulting in 2,500 more layoffs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour\u2019s green policies are \u201chollowing out working-class communities\u201d, said Gary Smith, the leader of GMB, Britain\u2019s third-biggest union. The Government, he said, must stop \u201cdecarbonisation through deindustrialisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last week\u2019s Trades Union Congress conference, Unite and GMB highlighted union concerns about the route to \u201cnet zero\u201d \u2013 a journey Labour is determined to pursue more doggedly than the Tories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two unions pushed through a joint motion opposing Labour\u2019s incoming ban on new North Sea drilling licences, championed by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They want \u201ccast-iron\u201d guarantees for the workers affected \u2013 some 30,000 off-shore North Sea oil and gas jobs, plus another 200,000 or so along the UK\u2019s oil and gas supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham evoked the coal mine closures of the 1980s. \u201cUnite will not stand by and watch those workers becoming the miners of our generation,\u201d she said, one of Britain\u2019s most powerful union barons raising the spectre of Thatcher-era industrial relations, marred by chaos and violence, barely two months into the first Labour Government for 14 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention has lately focused on the row between Downing Street and the Labour Left over the means-testing of pensioners\u2019 winter fuel payments<\/a> \u2013 complaints Downing Street has largely waved away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are signs of a much more substantial, long-term conflict, as the existential industrial cost of the UK\u2019s bid to hit legally binding \u201cnet zero carbon emissions\u201d target by 2050 comes into sharper focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grangemouth and Port Talbot are just the latest in a growing list of closures linked to net zero at plants that have long provided decent, well-paid jobs in parts of the country where such jobs are hard to come by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The destruction of the UK\u2019s North Sea oil and gas operations, and the huge range of related activities, will cause enormous industrial tensions \u2013 exposing the chasm between Labour\u2019s relatively wealthy, often urban-based \u201cenvironmental\u201d voters and its traditional base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s last remaining oil refinery \u2013 Grangemouth \u2013 is to shut, we learned last week, with the loss of 400 jobs.<\/p>\n

The plant \u2013 co-owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe\u2019s Ineos \u2013 is closing due to the UK\u2019s incoming ban on new petrol and diesel cars to hit net zero targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":343430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822603,691821693,691818154,691828717,691818248],"class_list":{"0":"post-343425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-economy","9":"tag-ed-miliband","10":"tag-net-zero","11":"tag-trade-unions","12":"tag-uk","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/61c6b0050897d6c6eeebf20aea5d3965.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1rl7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":394674,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=394674","url_meta":{"origin":343425,"position":0},"title":"Grangemouth 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