Mossmorran ExxonMobil plant 'currently losing £1m a week', Prime Minister Keir Starmer says

The Mossmorran ExxonMobil plastics plant is “currently losing £1m a week”, the Prime Minister has said.

ExxonMobil announced on Tuesday that it is planning to close its plastics plant in Fife, putting more than 400 jobs at risk.

The closure comes after the petrochemical giant “considered various options” to continue production and tested the market for a potential buyer.

Speaking out on Wednesday, Paul Greenwood, the chairman of ExxonMobil, said “deliberate” policies of the UK Government are “undermining” the business, contributing to the decision to close the ethylene manufacturing plant at Mossmorran in February.

UK industry minister Chris McDonald has indicated the Government is not prepared to keep the site open.

At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Starmer acknowledged the “difficult time” facing the workforce at the Mossmorran plant.

Scotland

ExxonMobil to close Mossmorran plastics plant with 400 jobs at risk

The facility which produces key raw materials from ethane employs 180 staff, 200 contractors and dozens of others at the site in Fife.

He faced criticism from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch who quoted the UK chair of ExxonMobil as saying, “The Government needs to understand that the whole industrial base of the UK is at risk unless they wake up and realise the damage their economic policies are doing”.

Badenoch asked: “Can the Prime Minister tell us is the loss of UK industry the price the country has to pay for having a clueless chancellor?”

In response, the Prime Minister replied that the Government has been meeting the company “for over six months” and has explored “every possible, reasonable avenue”.

“They have been facing losses for the last five years – it’s best to do the detail before you chunter – and they’re currently losing £1m a week,” Starmer said.

“But [Badenoch] talks about policy and approach on energy policy, she follows Reform on the European Convention. She follows the man who wants her job.”

The Scottish Government has already pledged it will “explore all options” to support workers at the plant – but deputy first minister Kate Forbes also made clear it was “crucial” that Labour ministers at Westminster “consider what more they can do for the workers at the plant and take urgent action”.