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The next item of business is a statement by Stephen Flynn on Syngenta Grangemouth. Questions will be taken at the end of the statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
15:03
Last week’s announcement by Syngenta that it was entering a formal consultation with workers regarding the closure of the manufacturing site at Grangemouth is deeply concerning. The potential loss of highly skilled jobs would be a significant blow to employees, their families and the valuable capabilities that the site supports.
On 1 October, the Scottish Government was informed by the company of its proposal. Sadly, the proposal could result in the loss of 377 highly skilled jobs, which, if realised, would have wider implications for contractors, suppliers, families and the local economy.
The company has advised that its proposal follows a review of its global manufacturing footprint and an assessment that has concluded that the Grangemouth operation is no longer commercially sustainable in its current form.
Syngenta cites increased international competition, pressure from low-cost manufacturers, rising labour and energy costs, and ongoing challenges affecting the competitiveness of the site.
I want to place on record my profound disappointment at the decision to enter into consultation with the workers, which adds further urgency to cross-Government work to secure a positive future role for Grangemouth. I also recognise those individuals who now face the threat of redundancy. My thoughts are with them and their families, who now face an uncertain future.
Members will agree with me that the workforce has made a valuable contribution to Scotland’s chemicals manufacturing sector. It is in that spirit that I give workers at Syngenta my assurance that this Government will do all that it can to secure a future for the site by working with the company, other businesses and key stakeholders to explore every option for continued operations over the coming months.
I know that this announcement will be disappointing news for many. Alongside the impact on employees, there may also be consequences for businesses and workers across the supply chain, which is why it is important that every effort is made to support those affected and secure future opportunities.
I want to set out the work that the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have undertaken alongside Syngenta to avert closure and the steps that we will take to secure a prosperous future for the site. Throughout this year, Scottish Enterprise has worked with Syngenta to identify solutions to operational and infrastructure challenges, explore investment opportunities and consider what support might help to secure the long-term future of the site.
The company sought significant public sector support for investment projects intended to sustain operations while it pursued new product opportunities for the future. Crucially, that was in addition to the £2 million grant that Scottish Enterprise provided to the company last year for the expansion of its Seedcare products. That engagement and the support offered centred on identifying measures that might support continued industrial activity, safeguard jobs and help secure a sustainable future for the site.
Ahead of the company’s board deliberations in September, I wrote to it expressing support for the Grangemouth site and its future development, and I understand that similar representations were made by the United Kingdom Government. Despite those efforts, it is disappointing that neither Government received substantive feedback on our offer, nor any indication from Syngenta on the board’s position prior to being informed of the proposed consultation last week.
I also want to be clear that support for affected workers is available. The Scottish Government’s partnership action for continuing employment, or PACE, has been activated and stands ready to provide information, advice and practical assistance to any employees who are affected by the consultation process. PACE has a strong record of helping individuals facing redundancy and will work alongside local partners to ensure that workers receive the support they need. Although our primary objective remains protecting jobs and securing a future for the site, we also have a responsibility to ensure that workers and their families receive appropriate support throughout the consultation period.
This Government is committed to doing everything we can to support the workers and the community at Grangemouth. To that end, I have written to the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to reassert my expectation that the agency’s efforts are squarely put behind our ambitions for the cluster and have asked him to ensure that no stone is left unturned in its efforts to retain operations, in at least some form, on the existing site.
However, many of the challenges identified by Syngenta lie outside devolved powers. I have therefore also written to the UK Government to urge it to take meaningful action for Grangemouth, but in particular at Syngenta. The UK Labour Government has consistently professed that it supports Grangemouth, yet not one penny of the £200 million commitment from the National Wealth Fund has been deployed. That support is needed now—to invest in the industrial cluster to ensure that it is fit for the future, that Grangemouth is viewed the world over as an attractive and exciting place to do business, and that its workforce has opportunities long into the future.
I recognise that the announcement, following similar such decisions by other operators at Grangemouth, might raise understandable concern about the long-term future of operations across the cluster. Grangemouth remains one of Scotland’s most important industrial sites, with significant strengths, capabilities and opportunities for future investment. The workforce is highly skilled, the site is well located, and the Scottish Government is determined to do everything possible, within devolved powers, to support the cluster’s continued evolution and secure a sustainable future for it.
I take this opportunity to renew our commitment to working with businesses, workers, unions, the community and the UK Government to create up to 500 new jobs at Grangemouth by the end of this parliamentary session.
In 2025, we committed £25 million to support Grangemouth’s industrial transition, and we have already made significant money available to new and existing operators to support new employment locally and elsewhere in Scotland. To date, we have allocated more than £8 million to initiatives at Grangemouth, including the construction of MiAlgae’s new bioreactor facility and the progression of the new Celtic Renewables biorefinery. Combined, those initiatives could support the creation of up to 279 jobs by the end of this decade.
We are working with a range of other developers that have expressed an interest in locating at Grangemouth, although—as I am sure members will appreciate—due to commercial sensitivities I am unable to comment publicly on the proposals in more detail. Nevertheless, I reassure members that Scottish Enterprise’s efforts are focused on enabling the release of more funding and, in turn, accelerating the deployment of further such projects at Grangemouth.
That is why we must all welcome today’s announcement that biotech firm MiAlgae has secured a £2.5 million investment from the Scottish National Investment Bank to support its new commercial-scale production facility at Grangemouth. The investment is a clear vote of confidence in Grangemouth’s future, and it will support innovation, attract further investment and create high-quality jobs.
Syngenta has publicly stated that it is open to exploring opportunities for the site and that a final decision has not been taken. I can only take the company at its word. I reiterate that the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise will work collaboratively with Syngenta’s management to ensure that the site continues to contribute to Scotland’s economy for many more years. By entering this phase as openly, collaboratively and positively as possible, we must find a solution that will ensure that the dedicated workers at Grangemouth have employment long into the future.
I reiterate my commitment that the Scottish Government will ensure that no option for a sustainable future for the site is overlooked and that workers remain at the centre of our response.
I will allow about 20 minutes for the cabinet secretary to answer questions on the issues that were raised in his statement. Questions and answers should be brief.
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement.
Nobody—not least the 377 workers whose jobs are now at risk—wanted to receive the news in recent days from Syngenta. I associate myself with the cabinet secretary’s comments. We must all pledge to work with those workers and their trade unions to secure a future for them and other people who work in Grangemouth.
I note the cabinet secretary’s impatience regarding the £200 million that has been pledged. Project willow is a joint enterprise by the UK and Scottish Governments. Although the National Wealth Fund has committed to provide that £200 million, Scottish Enterprise has a critical role in identifying projects and preparing land and sites for that investment. What communication has the cabinet secretary had with Scottish Enterprise to ensure that it expedites its work so that the sum that the National Wealth Fund has pledged can be drawn down?
I thank Mr Johnson for his serious response to what is a serious issue. He is, of course, right that Scottish Enterprise has an important role to play. That is why I engaged directly with its chief executive last week, and I have subsequently set out in writing my expectation that no stone be left unturned as we seek to secure a sustainable future for the site.
It is, however, important to reiterate the point that Mr Johnson raised, which is that £200 million was put on the table for Grangemouth by the UK Government about 18 months ago but not a single penny has yet been spent. I am keen to work with him and the UK Government to change that reality.
The news is devastating: 377 jobs might go, causing implications for the wider supply chain and supporting businesses. As was said in the statement, Syngenta has said that the Grangemouth site faces high costs and remains significantly more expensive to operate than other production sites.
I appreciate the Scottish Government’s efforts to support the business and its workers, but we must start looking at the underlying reasons why such plants are not competitive. Policies such as net zero have driven up energy costs, left us vulnerable to war, caused price spikes and imposed significant costs, such as carbon taxes. All that means that we end up offshoring industrial production while importing ever more products from abroad. Will the Scottish Government seek to review the deeply underlying cause of the plant’s uncompetitiveness and to report back on its findings?
As I sought to lay out in my statement, and as I outlined to members during a hastily arranged call last week, I understand that a number of factors have driven Syngenta’s decision to do what it has done. Those factors include energy costs, global competition, the status of Syngenta’s own products and competition within the company to secure new lines for sale to the wider world. As I understand it, the compound impact of those factors has led to the current, and deeply regrettable, situation.
My focus right now is not on having the arguments about net zero that Mr Massey would like to have; it is on ensuring that we can secure sustainable future delivery at Grangemouth for all the workers who are impacted by the decision.
I thank the cabinet secretary for his statement and for the work that the Government is doing to try to protect jobs in my constituency.
As the cabinet secretary said, it is almost two years since the UK Government promised £200 million for Grangemouth. I have written to the Prime Minister and to Mr McDougall, neither of whom has given me so much as an acknowledgement. Does the cabinet secretary share my concern that the Labour Government is asleep at the wheel when it comes to Grangemouth and can he provide an update on the Scottish Government’s engagement with Westminster to press for that funding to be delivered?
Mr Day is absolutely right to highlight the promise made to workers in advance of the 2024 general election that the refinery would be saved, although it was not. He is also right to draw to members’ attention—as I sought to do earlier and as Mr Johnson of the Labour Party did—the fact that £200 million was promised by the previous Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, but not a single penny has been spent.
I outlined my concerns about that directly to the UK minister responsible, Mr McDougall, during a call on Friday and I will reiterate those points in the future because that money must be deployed to ensure that we have new jobs and opportunities at Grangemouth.
I follow the cabinet secretary in extending my thoughts, and those of my party, to those who work at the site and to their families.
The cabinet secretary referred to the Scottish Enterprise money that has been given to Syngenta to expand the business. Workers are now facing redundancy, although the company is not in financial distress. What assurances has the cabinet secretary had from the business that any further public money given to it will be used to retain jobs there for the long term and that we will not be back here again once another grant has run out?
We may be getting a little ahead of ourselves. I have asked Scottish Enterprise to engage constructively, as I know it will, with Syngenta in order to look at all the available options. Once that has happened, we will be in a position to make a more rounded assessment as to whether any further money could be provided.
I reiterate to Parliament that, as I outlined in my statement, the Government put together a package for Syngenta, yet it still took the decision that it did because of the financial pressures that it believes the Grangemouth facility is under. That is a matter for the company, but we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that we are doing everything that we can to secure a viable future for the site.
My thoughts are also with workers who are impacted and their families.
We need a long-term economic plan for Grangemouth that will help to maintain skills and jobs in the area. What due diligence was carried out before Syngenta was awarded £2.2 million of public funding and could that money be redirected to support workers at Grangemouth?
That is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, but I understand that the business has outlined its willingness to repay the grant.
I thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement and add the support of the Scottish Liberal Democrats to the workers who are directly affected, their families and the wider community.
The cabinet secretary spoke—fairly—about the strong track record of PACE, but I am conscious that a succession of announcements have been made about the Grangemouth site and, indeed, commercial activities in the wider economy. Has he given any thought to whether PACE support needs to be augmented, given the cumulative impact of the recent announcements?
In relation to the previous decisions that have been made about Grangemouth and the closures, particularly at the refinery, a significant amount of work has been undertaken on job prioritisation and skills.
We are very much at the start of the consultation process, so it would be remiss of me to jump to conclusions, but I assure Mr McArthur and Parliament that we will be working through all options over the coming months as the company proceeds with its consultation.
MiAlgae has secured investment of £2.5 million from the Scottish National Investment Bank to help the company to scale its commercial production and bring new employment opportunities to the Grangemouth community. I appreciate that there are commercial sensitivities, which the cabinet secretary alluded to. However, can he advise what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the impact of that investment? Can he say any more about the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to support investment in Grangemouth?
It is important to highlight that there has been investment, and there will continue to be investment, in the Grangemouth site. Through MiAlgae and Celtic Renewables, we have seen Scottish Enterprise and, more recently, the Scottish National Investment Bank step in to provide financial support that creates new jobs and sustainable opportunities at Grangemouth.
Ultimately, the most important thing in this discussion is ensuring that Grangemouth has good, sustainable jobs, and this Government is committed to delivering that.
This is deeply worrying news for my constituents in Grangemouth, and my thoughts are with the workers at Syngenta and the wider community.
The cabinet secretary has talked about the support that Scottish Enterprise has offered Syngenta, not least the £2 million that was provided last year. I am interested to know when the Scottish Government first knew that the Grangemouth site was under threat and when the cabinet secretary first met management at Syngenta to discuss the situation.
The company told me last week that it has started a consultation process on proposed closure. That was the first day that I, or, as I understand it, the UK Government, was advised of Syngenta’s intentions in relation to closure. Of course, the Government and Scottish Enterprise were in regular dialogue with Syngenta prior to that, as I outlined in my statement.
I agree with other members on the need for a long-term economic plan. With that in mind, project willow outlined clearly that Grangemouth could build jobs in sustainable aviation fuel. However, to date, the site has not received any funding from the advanced fuels fund, which sits at around £200 million. With a view to resolving that, will the cabinet secretary give an update on the engagement that he has had with the UK Government on the matter and what the Scottish Government can do in the meantime?
We are all extremely keen to ensure that there is further and continued investment in Grangemouth so that we can unlock new economic opportunities. Sustainable aviation fuel is certainly one of those opportunities. It is important that the UK Government listens to members in this chamber when they undertake their deliberations in relation to the £200 million from the National Wealth Fund, which has not been spent.
Last week’s news about Syngenta is devastating, but the cabinet secretary is to be praised for arranging a call with MSPs and MPs. I wonder whether I could encourage him to ask Blair McDougall to do something similar, because it would be useful.
In relation to the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest £25 million in the Grangemouth industrial transition, only £8 million has been allocated so far. Can the cabinet secretary tell us the timetable for the remaining funding, how he anticipates it might be spent and how many jobs will be created?
I thank Mr Simpson for his very serious approach to the topic. It was good to speak with him and other members from the chamber and from Westminster following the announcement last week. He will be very keen to know that I had a further meeting with unions on Friday and, as I outlined earlier, with the UK Government. I certainly hope that Mr McDougall will take his views in respect of a meeting very seriously, as I am sure that all members of this chamber would.
It is important for me that the £25 million, which had been put on the table by the Scottish Government, is spent. We need to ensure that we do so in a manner that supports viable businesses. Scottish Enterprise is very much undertaking that work, as has been outlined by the fact that, as Mr Simpson rightly said, £8 million has already been spent on support for MiAlgae and Celtic Renewables.
It is of deep concern that 377 jobs are at risk as a result of this decision, which will impact not only the Grangemouth area but, potentially, the whole of the central belt. Can the cabinet secretary provide an update on the Scottish Government’s latest engagement with employees and unions to ensure that their voices are heard and will inform the Scottish Government’s next steps?
Yes, I can. I engaged proactively and immediately with trade unions on Thursday and Friday. They have an absolutely crucial role to play, not only in supporting the workforce now but in working with the Government in Scotland and the UK Government on future proposals for Grangemouth. I was very clear with them that this is the start of our work with them on this particular issue. I have no doubt that they will continue to engage with the Government constructively, as they have done up until now.
We all agree that the most urgent priority is the interests of the workforce whose lives and livelihoods are on the line. However, this is far from the first example of a company being willing to take public money and then leave its workforce behind when times get tough. Surely the cabinet secretary can agree that we need to take a much more systematic approach to ensuring that, when the private sector wants public money, it comes with binding guarantees, both for profit sharing when there is success and for workers’ protection when there is failure?
That is why Scottish Enterprise puts in a number of grant conditions in many of its offers to companies. As I outlined to Meghan Gallacher, it is my understanding that the grant that was provided to Syngenta last year would be repaid should the company ultimately reach the point of closing the site.
I thank the cabinet secretary for his statement and for his engagement with members of the Parliament. Can he say any more about what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the wider impact that this decision will have on the supply chain?
We are all very conscious that 377 workers and their families are directly impacted by the decision. However, we all know that, when there is an industrial closure, it has a much wider impact on the supply chain. I am particularly conscious that, for those in Grangemouth and nearby communities, this will be of profound concern.
I can assure Alex Kerr that considerable work will be undertaken to fully quantify that in the coming weeks and months. Irrespective of where an industrial closure takes place, we cannot forget that, although we might be dealing with the direct figures, the knock-on impact on the supply chain is huge.
That concludes the ministerial statement on Syngenta Grangemouth.
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