{"id":369110,"date":"2025-03-08T17:48:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T16:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=369110"},"modified":"2025-03-22T20:02:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:02:46","slug":"scotlands-last-oil-refinery-to-close-giving-the-lie-to-milibands-net-zero-jobs-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=369110","title":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s Last Oil Refinery to Close \u2013 Giving the Lie to Miliband\u2019s Net Zero Jobs Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Will Jones<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scotland\u2019s last oil refinery is to close with the loss of more than 400 jobs despite assurances from Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband, giving the lie to claims about Net Zero jobs and a \u201cjust transition\u201d. The Telegraph <\/em>has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

When Sir Keir Starmer visited Scotland days after becoming Prime Minister, he sought to reassure workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery by claiming that saving their jobs was a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has happened since then, however, has been far from comforting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After learning their jobs were at risk in December 2023, employees at the PetroIneos refinery in Falkirk \u2013 which produces 80% of Scotland\u2019s petrol \u2013 were told last September that the site would close<\/a> with the loss of more than 400 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bosses blamed the decision on the costs of operating Scotland\u2019s last refinery, as well as Britain\u2019s plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, many employees were left stunned. As well as Sir Keir, both Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, and Ed Miliband<\/a>, the Energy Secretary, had given strong assurances they would seek to save the sprawling facility, which has been a fixture in Grangemouth since 1924.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think everyone was shocked that the announcement came when it did,\u201d says \u201cJack\u201d, an employee who started as an apprentice at the refinery and has been there for more than a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worker, who does not want to give his real name, adds: \u201cThe refinery has been around for more than 100 years and it\u2019s part of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are people who are the third or fourth generation of their family to work there, others who have been there for 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLots of people here saw it as a job for life, and Labour had said that oil and gas was still going to be around for a long time. So it\u2019s been very worrying \u2013 and there\u2019s a lot of anger and frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The episode has raised troubling questions about the Government\u2019s repeated promises of a \u201cjust transition\u201d, where no workers in the oil and gas industry will be left behind as Britain phases out fossil fuels in favour of green energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Keir has repeatedly vowed that Labour will not repeat the Thatcher government\u2019s \u201ccallous\u201d decision to shut down Britain\u2019s remaining coal mines in the 1980s without ensuring workers had alternative jobs to go to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe effects of that are still felt in communities across the country and never, ever again must we make that mistake,\u201d the Prime Minister said in a 2023 speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet if Grangemouth is the first big test of this policy, local people say the Government is failing badly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cliff Bowen, a union convenor for Unite who has worked at Grangemouth for 30 years under Ineos and the site\u2019s former owner BP, is furious about the failure to prevent the refinery\u2019s demise and the lack of action to provide it with an alternative future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What particularly angers his members, he says, is that the closure will not even dent overall global carbon emissions, of which the UK makes up less than 1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Ineos and its partner PetroChina have said the site will become an import terminal for bringing in refined fuels from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason we ended up with final closure is because there\u2019s not been any political will to get behind it,\u201d says Bowen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t get a just transition at Grangemouth, you have no chance elsewhere. No chance. Because what else is it you\u2019re looking for? We\u2019ve got the skills, we\u2019ve got the geography, we\u2019re blessed with the resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut what we\u2019re going to do is just completely and utterly give all that up on the back of some campaign, this altar of net zero that they all seem to worship in government \u2013 with no plan for jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adds: \u201cWhy would you continue to import from foreign regimes and prop up their economies, to the destruction of your own communities?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Worth reading in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Scotland\u2019s last oil refinery is to close with the loss of more than 400 jobs despite assurances from Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband, giving the lie to claims about Net Zero jobs and a \u201cjust transition\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":369113,"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":[691831484,691818618,691821028,691820075,691818154,691819807,691820306,691820026],"class_list":{"0":"post-369110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-energy-secretary-ed-miliband","9":"tag-energy-transition","10":"tag-green-jobs","11":"tag-labour","12":"tag-net-zero","13":"tag-north-sea-oil","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-sir-keir-starmer","17":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0Screenshot-2025-03-08-174347.png?fit=1414%2C854&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1y1o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":371209,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371209","url_meta":{"origin":369110,"position":0},"title":"Miliband Panics Over Grangemouth\u00a0Closure","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"21\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Energy Secretary plots \u00a3225m transformation of Grangemouth into bioethanol plant.","rel":"","context":"In \"bioethanol plant\"","block_context":{"text":"bioethanol plant","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bioethanol-plant"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0grangemouth-refinery.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0grangemouth-refinery.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0grangemouth-refinery.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0grangemouth-refinery.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0grangemouth-refinery.jpg?fit=1200%2C806&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":267194,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=267194","url_meta":{"origin":369110,"position":1},"title":"\u201cI hate tree huggers\u201d: Britain\u2019s Opposition Leader on Net Zero Proposals","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Britain\u2019s opposition leader is not interested in Net Zero proposals unless they produce lots of green jobs, to replace jobs lost in \u201cold sectors\u201d.","rel":"","context":"In \"Keir Starmer\"","block_context":{"text":"Keir Starmer","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=keir-starmer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0JCKF1J1CK7NBJTDYF60X.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0JCKF1J1CK7NBJTDYF60X.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0JCKF1J1CK7NBJTDYF60X.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0JCKF1J1CK7NBJTDYF60X.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0JCKF1J1CK7NBJTDYF60X.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":266518,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=266518","url_meta":{"origin":369110,"position":2},"title":"Clash of Priorities in Labour Party Reveals Deep Divide on Climate Change and Jobs","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Keir Starmer\u2019s lukewarm response to Ed Miliband\u2019s energy policies reveals a widening rift within the party. 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