LABOUR are "showing disregard" to Scottish industry by bailing out English steelworks while failing to provide promised funding for Grangemouth, the SNP have said.
In a statement to the House of Commons, business minister Sarah Jones, reported that the UK Government would “pursue every option to keep steelmaking” across England and she’d “offer all possible support” to Liberty Steel in Yorkshire.
In April, the UK Government used emergency legislation to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe blast furnaces and keep the plant open.
And last month, Westminster took control of the UK’s third-largest steelworks in a bid to save 1450 jobs at the site.
The High Court had confirmed that Speciality Steel – previously part of Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel business – would face a compulsory liquidation.
However, not a single statement has been made about Grangemouth oil refinery.
And, in February, Labour pledged a £200 million rescue package for Grangemouth. But energy minister Michael Shanks admitted that none of the funds had been released during a session of Holyrood’s Economy Committee earlier this year.
The final refinery in Scotland officially stopped producing oil in April, with more than 400 jobs lost.
It was revealed through Freedom of Information documents that Chancellor Rachel Reeves had met with Grangemouth’s billionaire owner Jim Ratcliffe in the same month it closed down.
SNP Business spokesperson, Chris Law MP said in the Commons: “The minister is right to come here today to give this statement on such an important part of our national infrastructure.
“It’s just a shame no minister has ever given a statement in this House on Grangemouth.
“We have now learned that the Chancellor met the chair of Ineos, Jim Ratcliffe, just three weeks before Petroineos Grangemouth closed, but didn’t even as much as raise the refinery with him.
“In her statement, the minister has said, Mr Speaker, ‘the Government stands with the affected steelworkers in Rotherham, Sheffield, and Wednesbury. We stand with their families. Quite right, so do we in the SNP.
“So why did this Labour government never stand with the workers of Grangemouth?”
Speaking after his question, Law added: “A refinery in Lincolnshire was bailed out and £100bn is found for nuclear power plants in England - yet when it came to a Scottish refinery the UK Labour Government didn’t lift a finger to keep it in operation leaving Scots in no doubt about Westminster and where Scotland lies in its priorities.”
“It is absolutely right that the UK Government acts to support industry and jobs in England, but it would seem for Sir Keir Starmer industry and jobs become more critical when they fall south of the Tweed,” he said.
“It is this disregard for Scottish industry that leaves a growing number of Scots to wonder just how long we stay tied to broken Brexit Britain because only with Independence can we prioritise Scottish industry, Scottish growth and Scotland’s people.”
The Speciality Steel operation, which has plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire, will be placed into the hands of the Official Receiver and special managers from advisory firm Teneo.
Ongoing wages and costs to keep the plant running will be covered by the Government until a buyer is found, as Labour have also done for British Steel at Scunthorpe.
