FMQs: Grangemouth closure exposes urgent need for robust climate plan
The announced closure of the Grangemouth refinery underlines the urgent need for a robust climate plan and industrial strategy, says Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie.
In his first question to the First Minister at FMQs today, Mr Harvie said: “Our thoughts must be with the workforce and the community affected by the announcement regarding Grangemouth. But the truth is that the Government has been well aware for years that Grangemouth urgently needed a just transition plan.
“Yesterday’s so-called Green Industrial Strategy contained nothing new to achieve a fair transition away from polluting industries - so the workforce and the community have been failed by the private owners, and failed by both Governments too.
“Why has the Scottish Government produced a green industrial strategy that looks like it was written by oil and gas lobbyists, and which contained no transition plan for Grangemouth?”
Following a response from the First Minister, in which he defended his lukewarm strategy, Mr Harvie accused the Scottish Government of kicking climate action into the long grass.
In his second question, Mr Harvie said: “News about Grangemouth this week makes it all the more important that the Scottish Government is honest about its climate action.
“But they didn’t want to tell Parliament about their legally required plan to make up for their missed targets. They slipped the report out on a Friday, with no debate, no statement to parliament, not even a press release on that legally required report.
“And no wonder they’re embarrassed by it. It’s supposed to show what new action they will take to make up for falling further behind on climate. Yet it contains no new policy whatsoever.
“And this after they’ve spent the last week abandoning policies the Greens achieved in Government. They’ve raided the Nature Restoration Fund and the ScotWind money, and they’re planning a huge increase in rail fares which the Greens had cut.
“How can they publish this report with literally no new policy in it, and still expect to be taken seriously while they’re rushing through a new climate bill which kicks this ever more urgent issue into ever longer grass?”