LABOUR’S touted £200 million rescue package for Grangemouth remains entirely unspent, a UK Government minister has admitted.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks revealed that none of the fund had been released under questioning by Holyrood’s Economy Committee.
When the National Wealth Fund cash was announced in February, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray claimed the UK Government was “working at speed to ensure a long-term future for Grangemouth”.
But Shanks’s admission in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday was seized on as evidence Labour were failing to treat Grangemouth with urgency.
Speaking during the committee hearing, SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald asked the minister about the National Wealth Fund cash. He said: “How much of it has been released so far?”
Shanks (below) replied: “It’s dependent on propositions coming forward, as I’ve said, so it won’t release funding until there is a viable investment proposition on the table. I think that’s quite important, actually, is because what we don’t want do is pour money into something that we don’t think is a viable long-term opportunity.”
Camilla Pierry, deputy director of energy security at UK Government, a civil servant, added: “The nature of the National Wealth Fund funding is that it won’t come in until projects are quite mature proposals and this is part of the way we’re working with the Scottish Government, who announced £25m in the short-term, which is much more readily available for seed funding.”
Earlier, Shanks said that the money would help companies who “might consider” investing in Grangemouth at a future date.
MacDonald said: “Michael Shanks confirmed what many of us had suspected – not a penny of the UK Government’s promised £200m for Grangemouth has materialised.
“While I understand the need for private investment, the UK Government is putting Grangemouth in a chicken and egg style situation – private investors need certainty – and that certainty only comes when the Government steps in and invests in the first place.
“If Westminster can find millions to nationalise British Steel, and billions for carbon capture projects in England – then surely it can also deliver on its promise to Grangemouth.”
