Hundreds of Syngenta Jobs at Risk
Grangemouth needs the £200 million it was promised and it needs it now
The announcement that Syngenta intends to cease operations at its Grangemouth site, putting 377 jobs at risk, is another devastating blow for our community.
My thoughts are with the workers and their families. Behind every job is a household facing uncertainty, and the consequences will reach beyond the site to local suppliers, businesses and the wider Grangemouth economy.
I firmly oppose this proposed closure. The consultation period must be a meaningful opportunity to challenge the decision and investigate every option to retain employment at the site. I will continue to press Syngenta to reconsider.
There is also an urgent responsibility on government to act.
Just days before this announcement, Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn told Parliament that the UK Government had still not delivered a penny of the £200 million promised to support Grangemouth following the refinery closure.
That money was promised to a community already facing enormous industrial upheaval. With hundreds more jobs now at risk, the need to deliver it could hardly be clearer.
People in Grangemouth rightly feel let down. Labour came to power promising to save the refinery, but it closed. The promised funding has still not arrived. Meanwhile, the UK Government has intervened to support steelmaking and refining elsewhere in the UK.
Workers here deserve the same urgency and determination to protect their livelihoods.
Grangemouth is home to skilled people, vital infrastructure and generations of industrial expertise. Those strengths should be the foundation of its future. We cannot afford to lose more jobs and skills while ministers repeat promises without delivering the resources to back them up.
I am calling on the UK Government to release the £200 million it promised and work urgently with the Scottish Government, the company, trade unions and local partners to investigate all options to retain employment at the Syngenta site.
Support for workers and their families is essential, but it must go alongside a serious effort to protect employment.
Kind words and further promises will not pay wages or secure Grangemouth’s industrial future. We need action, investment and a clear commitment to this community.
For me, this also underlines why Scotland needs the powers of independence: to make decisions about our industrial future and ensure Scottish workers and communities receive the priority they deserve.
Grangemouth needs the money it was promised and it needs it now.
