Swinney missed chance to nationalise Grangemouth five years ago, says Sarwar

John Swinney has been told he missed the opportunity to nationalise Scotland’s last remaining oil refinery half a decade ago.

Anas Sarwar criticised the First Minister over his calls for the UK Government to take Grangemouth into public hands, as it has done for British Steel.

The Scottish Labour leader said Mr Swinney knew about issues at the plant five years ago but “took no right approach”.

Mr Swinney was the deputy first minister and education secretary in 2020.

Mr Sarwar said the First Minister has the power to nationalise the refinery now if he wishes, although Mr Swinney has said it would be unaffordable to do so.

Owners Petroineos, which is shutting the plant this year with a loss of around 400 jobs, said the site makes a loss of £380,000 every day.

Asked by the PA news agency why the UK Government is set to nationalise British Steel and not Grangemouth, Mr Sarwar said: “There’s a couple of things on that.

“One, the company itself has said that the time to nationalise would have been five years ago when John Swinney knew what was happening at Grangemouth and the SNP Government took no right approach then.

“Secondly, if John Swinney wants to nationalise Grangemouth he has the power to do so.”

Mr Sarwar, who was speaking during a visit to Alexander Dennis in Larbert, said the Scottish Government had nationalised Prestwick Airport and Ferguson Marine because they believed them to be “strategically important”.

He said the same could happen to Grangemouth.

“He has the power to nationalise Grangemouth, but he has never supported that in the past, but now claims to support it now,” Mr Sarwar said of the SNP leader.

“And third, what he should be comparing is the steel industry. Whilst the UK Government has taken the necessary action to protect British Steel, why has the SNP Government failed over recent years to support Scottish steel?

“This is an SNP Government that all it’s good at is manufacturing grievance, not supporting industry here in Scotland.”

Responding to the comments, a spokesperson for the First Minister told the PA news agency that workers at Grangemouth will be “angry that Labour in Scotland are dismissing calls for the UK Government to save their jobs in this way”.

They added: “We are clear that if British Steel in Scunthorpe is to be nationalised then so should Grangemouth.

“Anas Sarwar should join with the SNP Government and demand that the Prime Minister treat Scottish industry on a par with industry south of the border and stop treating Scotland as an afterthought.

“Mr Sarwar promised last year that Labour would save the jobs at the refinery. But again, Scottish Labour are choosing to stand up for the Prime Minister rather than stand up for workers in Scotland.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced last week that the UK could nationalise British Steel in order to stop the closure of the plant in Scunthorpe.

Earlier this week, the First Minister suggested there was a double standard between Labour’s approach to the plant in England and the one in Scotland.

He said: “If British Steel is to be nationalised to protect it, then so too should Grangemouth. I’m determined to make sure that Scotland is not viewed as an afterthought.”

A Petroineos spokesperson had said: “If governments had wanted to seriously consider different ownership models, the time to start that work was five years ago when we first alerted them to the challenges at the refinery.

“We have also been clear throughout about the fundamental operational challenges and the scale of losses incurred.”