David Vance SubstackRead More
You may have seen the news that Grangemouth, Scotland’s only oil refinery, is to close by the summer of next year, with the loss of around 400 jobs.
Petroineos said the closure of Grangemouth was due to it being unable to compete with sites in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The company said the decision would “safeguard fuel supply for Scotland” by converting the site into a terminal able to import petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and kerosene into Scotland – but would require a workforce of fewer than 100 employees compared to the current 475.
Get that? Energy security is going to be “safeguarded” by ceasing to refine oil IN Scotland and instead import it TO Scotland! How lunatic is that? Well, it’s almost as lunatic as this..
Union leaders had hoped the facility could remain open longer to provide time for a green alternative to be established at the site.
Heads up – there is no ‘green alternative” and never will be. It’s all whimsy.
Naturally the Political class feigned shock and indignation at this news with eco-zealot Ed Miliband wringing his hands and pretending that this is not what he wants. But it is exactly what he wants. Miliband is deeply committed to Net Zero jobs in the traditional energy market and so the loss of Grangemouth fits perfectly with his agenda to “de-carbonise” the UK.
If you think the loss of 400 jobs is bad, just wait to you see what happens to the 100,000 jobs now at risk as Labour presses ahead with its attack on oil and gas drillings in the North Sea.
Investment worth £30billion and tax receipts totalling £20billion could also be lost by 2029, according to the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce. The energy sector was already reeling from a windfall tax introduced by the Tories after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent bills soaring. But Labour’s plans to raise the levy from 35 per cent to 38 per cent and scrap tax breaks on profits that are reinvested in fossil fuel production are causing alarm. The Government has also said drilling licences for new oil and gas fields will not be issued.
400 job losses is just the start. Tens of thousands of other high value skilled jobs will be sacrificed as Labour pursues the disastrous Net Zero agenda with a zealotry bereft of all economic reason. Ideology trumps rationality under Miliband and it’s the workers who will pay.
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