Work to secure Grangemouth future ‘needs to happen at pace’, says Sarwar

Work must be carried out “at pace” to secure a future for Grangemouth, the Scottish Labour leader has said after the Prime Minister announced £200 million of funding for the site.

Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday promised £200 million from the UK’s National Wealth Fund for the oil refinery, owned by Petroineos, which is set to close this year with the loss of 400 jobs.

The refinery is due to transition into an import terminal in the coming months and redundancy notices have been sent out to hundreds of workers.

It is hoped the £200 million from the National Wealth Fund could bring in a further £600 million from the private sector which Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said would be “transformative”.

Speaking on Monday after the Prime Minister’s weekend announcement at the Scottish Labour conference, Mr Sarwar said work must proceed quickly to attract investors.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “This needs to happen now at pace, and that’s why getting investors around the table, demonstrating both governments are serious about a long-term future for Grangemouth is going to be really important. ”

A £1.5 million report into the feasibility of Grangemouth becoming a low-carbon energy hub, known as Project Willow, is due to be published by the end of the month.

Mr Sarwar said that options for the future of the site could include areas such as hydrogen, e-fuels and sustainable aviation fuels.

He said: “£200 million is not to be sniffed at. It’s £200 million of National Wealth Fund money, which, as I say, is meant to attract multipliers in terms of investment from private sector money.

“But I think it all depends on the projects that come forward. And I think if we can make, as I say, one of the three examples I’ve mentioned, I think there’s four or five other things that Project Willow is looking at.

“All of them I think would secure a positive future for the site of Grangemouth. But what we require now is to move at pace and attract that investment.”

Mr Sarwar described the site as a “huge investment opportunity”.

He said: “If you think about the connection it’s got to the North East, if you look at the infrastructure that’s already there, if you look at the port infrastructure that exists around it, the fact it’s got a grid already in place, and it’s perfectly situated in Scotland, this is a huge opportunity for anyone that’s a global investor to come in and do something transformational for that area, but also for Scotland, and that’s what I want, to go out and find that investment.

“I’ll be working flat out to do that as well.”

First Minister John Swinney last week pledged a further £25 million to secure a “just transition” for Grangemouth and called on the UK Government to match the Scottish Government’s funding.

Asked whether it would be possible to save all the jobs, Mr Sarwar said there had been “intransigence” from the employer.

He said: “The First Minister referenced that in his statement last week. He is not on the same political side as me, but even he credited the fact that a UK Labour government as well as the Scottish Government has tried to avert the closure of the refinery, but there has been a level of intransigence from the company.”

Iain Hardie, regional head of legal and external affairs at Petroineos, said: “For several years, we told politicians and officials repeatedly that the refinery would likely close and that a sensible transition plan would need to be developed.

“This included detailed briefings to Mr Sarwar and members of his team.

“It will always be a matter of regret that neither Scottish nor UK governments were moved to action until last summer, but what did happen is that Petroineos conceived Project Willow, to identify opportunities for low-carbon manufacturing that could secure a bright future for Grangemouth.

“The financial commitments made by the current governments at Holyrood and Westminster this past week are hugely encouraging but that money can only be deployed to good effect if complemented by policy and regulatory interventions that will make these technologies investable.”