Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2026 [Draft]
I will come to Alexander Stewart’s scripted put-downs and confected ire in a moment, but first I congratulate Mark Ruskell on bringing this important debate to the chamber. The title of the motion is right—this is about a just transition for Mossmorran—but there are multiple layers to what we need to discuss today.
First and foremost, we need to ensure that there is a just transition for the 400 workers who are impacted by the decision. We must be in the mode of looking at all the practical solutions, so I welcome what the Scottish Government has brought forward. I am not in the business today of saying that what the UK Government has done is a full stop and finite; I am absolutely up for discussing what further steps can be taken and for making those representations. However, we need to go further.
Mark Ruskell was absolutely right to express his frustration that this is being framed as a just transition. We cannot continue to adopt a position in which we discover the need to make a just transition after the event—after decisions are made, after disinvestment happens and after jobs are at risk. We must ensure that we have detailed and practical plans ahead of time.
The other point is to do with the nature of Mossmorran. The just transition is not just about the energy sector per se. When we are talking about transition, we must recognise that hydrocarbons have significance beyond energy use. For example, ethylene production here is used for a broad range of products, including dyes, plastics and pharmaceuticals. We must have a plan for how to transition the sector as a whole, including those industrial uses. Between 15 per cent and a third—I have heard that it can be up to 45 per cent—of a barrel of oil can be used for non-energy purposes, and we need a plan for that.
We must take seriously the decision in November 2025 and the closure in February 2026. A task force has been established, which is to be welcomed. It is important that the task force is convened by Fife Council and supported by Fife College. They must sit at its heart, because those organisations have the people on the ground who will deliver the solutions for the workforce. That should be acknowledged.
I want to put on the record what the UK Government has done to date. It engaged with ExxonMobil for more than six months prior to the announcement. It discussed in detail the possibility of plans, but no practical plan was forthcoming. I have to say that it is a source of frustration to hear the dialogue that Mark Ruskell had with ExxonMobil prior to that. Essentially, people were being told that everything was fine, but that was the point at which dialogue should have commenced. That is deeply frustrating, which is why I intervened.
The UK Government has engaged the Department for Work and Pensions rapid response team to support the workforce and, as acknowledged by the Deputy First Minister, it has guaranteed that workers will get interviews at the UK Government-backed hydrocracker at Grangemouth. Those are important practical steps.
We need to recognise the global context in which this is happening. ExxonMobil is closing ethylene plants in France; that cannot be laid at the door of UK policy. Indeed, other firms are closing ethylene plants in other parts of Europe, including in Germany and Belgium. The global context is that there is overproduction and a correction is taking place.
I say to the Conservatives that, frankly, making accusations that this is a left-wing conspiracy does not engage with the issue seriously. At the end of the day, the UK continental shelf is a mature basin. The majority of the extractable resource has been extracted. If we are going to talk seriously, we need to acknowledge that fact, because transition would be a necessity whether net zero was a thing or not. To bandy about reckless language such as that does a disservice to the issue and discredits Conservative members.
I move amendment S6M-20820.2, to insert at end:
“welcomes the convening of a joint taskforce between Fife Council, the UK Government and Scottish Government, trade unions, Fife College, Fife businesses and local community organisations to support the workforce and the wider area, and further welcomes the commitment that workers will be guaranteed interviews at the UK Government-backed Grangemouth cracker; recognises that the taskforce is working on a plan for the site, and considers that this should inform any funding and economic support provided.”
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