SNP ‘missed chance’ to nationalise Grangemouth – Daily Business

John Swinney has been told that his party missed the opportunity to nationalise the Grangemouth oil refinery five years ago, but still had the power to do so.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar responded to the First Minister’s calls for Labour take the facility into state control by saying the SNP knew about the plant’s dire future five years ago but did not take action at the time.

Mr Sarwar said the First Minister could still take that course, though it would mean supporting a plant losing £380,000 a day.

Iain Hardie of owner Petroineos told a committee of MPs recently that it had run up losses of £600m since 2011 and both the SNP and Tories were told about its precarious future but chose not to invest in saving it.

At the weekend Mr Swinney asked why the UK Government is set to nationalise British Steel and not Grangemouth. It was the first time a Scottish government minister had called for nationalisation of the Scottish plant.

Speaking today, Mr Sarwar told the Daily Record: “There’s a couple of things on that. One, the company itself has said that the time to nationalise would have been five years ago when John Swinney knew what was happening at Grangemouth and the SNP Government took no right approach then.

“Secondly, if John Swinney wants to nationalise Grangemouth he has the power to do so.”

The Labour leader was speaking during a visit to the bus firm Alexander Dennis in Larbert and noted that the Scottish Government had nationalised Prestwick Airport and Ferguson Marine.

“He has the power to nationalise Grangemouth, but he has never supported that in the past, but now claims to support it now,” Mr Sarwar said.

“This is an SNP Government that all it’s good at is manufacturing grievance, not supporting industry here in Scotland.”

The First Minister and the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn have claimed suggested there is a double standard between Labour’s decision to consider nationalising British Steel’s plant at Scunthorpe in England but not Grangemouth in Scotland.

Labour insists the two are not comparable as Scunthorpe is the last remaining primary steel plant in the UK, whereas there are five other oil refineries.