Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2026 [Draft]
What is happening at Mossmorran is not an isolated industrial event; it is a test of whether Scotland is serious about delivering a just transition. I say that as an MSP for North East Scotland, a region that has powered this country for half a century and that now stands at the sharpest edge of energy transition.
Uplift and others are clear that the closure of the Mossmorran plant follows a familiar and worrying pattern, with record shareholder payouts but no credible plan for workers; reactive mitigation after closure announcements but no proactive industrial strategy; and scrambling to respond instead of shaping outcomes. We saw that at Grangemouth, we are seeing it at Mossmorran, and workers across the north-east are watching.
The truth is that what happens at Mossmorran will shape confidence in the transition across my region. After 50 years of drilling, the most productive days of the North Sea are over. That is not ideology; it is geology. Gas production is in steep decline and the number of jobs that are supported by oil and gas has more than halved in the past decade, yet we still do not have a coherent published energy strategy and just transition plan from the Scottish Government. Workers are being told to trust in a transition that has not been properly planned.
I speak regularly to constituents who are offshore workers, engineers, contractors and apprentices. They are not climate deniers. They know that change is coming; what they fear is chaos, unmanaged decline, falling pay and conditions, and decisions that are made in distant boardrooms. Delaying intervention only deepens the long-term costs through unemployment, skills loss and hollowed-out communities. That is not just economic failure; it is a betrayal of people.
I am proud that the Scottish Greens fought for and secured the £500 million just transition fund for the north-east and Moray, but a fund is not a strategy. Funding those who profit from the status quo will not deliver a just transition. Without binding workforce guarantees, clear timelines and alignment between energy policy, industrial planning and skills investment, we will repeat the same mistakes.
Mossmorran should have had a funded transition framework long before its closure was announced. Workers and unions should have shaped its future, not been forced to react to corporate decisions. When ExxonMobil distributes billions of pounds to shareholders while closing a plant that sustained our industrial economy for decades, that is not a market inevitability but a political choice to protect elite interests. Will the North Sea and the north-east be next?
We cannot drill ourselves out of decline. Even with new licences, reliance on imports will rise, and much of what remains is oil for export. Promising long-term security from a shrinking basin is not solidarity; it is false hope. We cannot allow multinational corporations to dictate the pace and shape of the transition. The opportunity is enormous: research from Robert Gordon University shows that job losses in oil and gas can be exceeded by growth in sectors such as offshore wind if we invest in domestic supply chains and manufacturing. That is the prize, but securing it requires urgency, Governments working in lockstep and genuine community and worker leadership and co-design from the outset.
A just transition for Mossmorran is inseparable from one for the north-east. If Mossmorran becomes another unmanaged collapse, trust in the transition will erode further. If it becomes a turning point away from reactive crisis management towards strategic, worker-led planning, we will send a powerful signal that offshore workers will not be abandoned.
This is about dignity and security. It is about ensuring that climate action strengthens, rather than sacrifices, our communities. The north-east is ready to lead—to be the powerhouse of Scotland’s new economy. However, the Government must act with us, boldly and coherently, now.