The Scottish secretary has said he is “confident” that jobs will return to Grangemouth following the closure of the oil refinery this summer.
Many workers set to lose their jobs within weeks have told STV News that they face having to relocate to the south of England or Saudi Arabia to find an equivalent role.
Staff fear their highly skilled and highly paid jobs will not be replicated elsewhere in the country.
Ian Murray said in response that while measures that have been put in place “don’t help the situation today”, the UK Government is doing “all it possibly can”.
He said: “There is a gap between the refinery closing, which was not of our choosing, and what happens to the site.
“I’m confident with the package of measures in place that there will be jobs and careers there in the future, and I accept that doesn’t help the situation today, but we’re doing all we possibly can to help that situation today.
“What we’ve done as a UK Government in a very short space of time is put as much support into Grangemouth as we possibly can.
“The job losses are absolutely devastating, devastating for individuals themselves and for their families, but the Prime Minister announced a huge package of measures to help the Grangemouth-side post-refinery, including £200m from the National Wealth Fund and support for the retraining of the workforce.”
Murray accused the former Conservative government and Scottish Government of taking no action to save the site despite having “almost a decade” to plan for its closure.
In comparison, he said, the Labour Government has had a “matter of weeks”.
Keir Starmer announced in February that the £200m represented an “investment in Scotland’s industrial future”.
The funding will help to plan the future of the site, with the refinery due to transition into an import terminal, leading to more than 400 workers being made redundant.
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney announced a further £25m to ensure a “just transition” for the area.
Murray added: “We’ve done everything we can in the short term to support the workforce in terms of skills, retraining and accessing other jobs.
“In the medium term, in terms of putting that money in and commitment from the National Wealth Fund and the Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal.
“Beyond that is the Project Willow, which is about the wider Grangemouth site.”
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STV reporter Gordon Chree on bids to regenerate Grangemouth area
Project Willow – a £1.5m initiative jointly funded by the UK and Scottish governments – will examine the feasibility of Grangemouth becoming a low-carbon energy hub.
A report on the project, seen by STV News, outlines that around 400 jobs could be created in the next five years and up to 1,750 by 2040.
The first stages would require more than half a billion pounds of investment to get to Sustainable Aviation Fuel production, another £800m, and then more than double that to reach the full job potential.
Grangemouth is the only operating crude oil refinery in Scotland and one of only six remaining in the UK.
It supplies around 80% of the country’s fuel.
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