Hundreds march through Grangemouth calling for Petroineos oil refinery to be saved from closure

Hundreds of people have marched through Grangemouth to campaign for 500 jobs at the Petrioineos plant in the town to be saved.

The firm announced in November it would cease operations by 2025, but a joint UK and Scottish Government funded project looking at potential future options has given renewed hope.

On Saturday, workers, trade unions and locals marched through the town armed with drums, flags and even a brass band to highlight how the plant is at the heart of the community in Grangemouth and that jobs must be saved.

Councillor Robert Spiers who has represented the area for nearly 40 years and has previously worked in the industry, says the situation needs to be taken seriously.

Councillor Spiers said: “I’ve represented this town for a lot of years, my heart’s in this town and the people are good people in this town. And they deserve the Westminster government to step in here and take this situation seriously.”

Following the news that Petroineos would cease all operations at the plant by 2025, £1.5m of funding was announced by the UK and Scottish governments to produce a report explore low carbon options for the site.

Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said that no options should be ruled out for the site.

He told STV News: “We’ve got to have that fundamental reset and relations so we can work together and collaborate together to try and find an industrial future for the site.

“Lets try and keep everything on the table, lets not rule anything out, whether that be a decarbonisation hub, carbon capture storage, sustainable aviation fuel, green hydrogen or offshore wind.”

Petroineos told STV News that Grangemouth is ideally placed to become a future hub of low carbon manufacturing.

Meanwhile the Scottish Government say there’s been early positive discussions with UK secretary of state Ed Miliband.

However Derek Thomson from Unite the Union said the focus needs to be on securing a clear plan to help save the 500 jobs at the site.

He said: “We need to be working with the government to make sure that there is a credible resource plan but with investment… for Grangemouth.

“But for the workers, we need to make sure that there is a clear plan to extend the lifetime of the refinery, invest in new technology and invest in a place of transition over to what we believe is greener energies that can get done at the site.”

While there is renewed hope about saving jobs in Grangemouth, there are no guarantees and there is the hope this rally and march will show the strength of feeling not just here but around Scotland about saving these hundreds of jobs.

The message to both the Scottish and UK governments is that action needs to be urgent and effective.