Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Grangemouth, has urged the UK Government to consider nationalising the town's refinery following Petroineos' announcement to cease refining operations and convert the site into an import terminal. Leishman argues that 'energy should not be in the hands of private capital' and criticizes 'faceless shareholders' for making decisions that impact workers and communities.
The Labour MP for Grangemouth has said the UK Government should consider taking over the town's closure-threatened refinery.
Leishman - who was first elected as an MP in July - said it was "wrong" for "faceless shareholders" to "make decisions which impact workers and communities".The MP continued: "There is definitely something fundamentally wrong with the ownership of the refinery. We've got faceless shareholders sitting in boardroom far away making 'commercial decisions' that impact workers and communities. That is wrong.
"From a local point of view that is critical, but also from a Scottish national security and energy point of view. Energy security is intrinsically linked to national security." He said: "There has to be support from Government. We have seen the economic, social and industrial consequences of what happened to the miners.He continued: "You say about Linwood, 'that's that place they used to make cars.' Or Ravenscraig, 'that's where they used to make steel'.
Nationalisation Grangemouth Refinery Petroineos Jobs Energy Security
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