Scotland Demands Better march, Edinburgh, 25 October. Photo courtesy Unite Scotland.
In a celebration of workers’ organisation, the Scottish TUC held a march in Edinburgh in October. Workers in struggle from across Scotland joined in – among them firefighters, teachers and public service workers, with banners under the slogan Scotland demands better, highlighting the loss of skilled jobs and lack of investment in infrastructure and public services.
Workers from Grangemouth, where hundreds of jobs were lost when Ineos closed the refinery, were present in numbers. Grangemouth’s petrochemical plant, also owned by Ineos, is now at risk.
When the closure was announced, the government put forward the idea of Project Willow, to turn Grangemouth into a low-carbon energy hub. They claimed that £200 million would be invested from the National Wealth Fund. None of that has yet materialised.
Such measures miss the point. Britain’s energy security requires us to be able to exploit our national oil reserves and build our capacity to refine oil. The government’s adherence to the cult of net zero damages us, through higher and higher energy prices, and a dangerous reliance on imports.
Recent research by the STUC shows that the offshore and onshore wind sector, so often hailed as provider of new green jobs, delivers just one new job for every £1 million of turnover. By contrast oil and gas delivered 13.4 jobs per £1 million in 2023.