DEVASTATED workers have warned the governments of Westminster and Holyrood that their actions will not be “forgotten or forgiven” as more than a century of oil refining at Grangemouth drew to a close today.

“From today, we will be importing all the products necessary to meet Scotland’s demand for transport fuels,” PetroIneos spokesman Ian Hardie said, almost two years since the firm announced its plans to close Scotland’s only oil refinery and convert it to an import terminal.

This move sparked fury from refinery workers and their union, Unite, amid fears it could cost as many as 3,000 jobs across the Scottish economy.

Campaigners have urged governments north and south of the border to intervene to save jobs and skills at the site responsible for 4 per cent of Scotland’s GDP and deliver a planned, fair transition from fossil fuels for workers.

First Minister John Swinney called it a “very sad day for Scotland,” adding: “The Scottish government will work to secure a future for the Grangemouth community and agreement to the Acorn Carbon Capture project is essential.”

But furious workers were in no mood to hear any more promises as the news spread around the Scottish Trades Union Congress along the coast in Dundee.

Chris Hamilton, a Unite rep at the plant, told the Star: “Seeing the promises politicians made at the election to save this plant, and then seeing it unfold that way it has, is devastating.

“We forewarned this potential outcome, and we came forward with solutions and options that they could have taken in the interim to deal with the issues facing the site.

“Listening to Swinney on Monday and Sarwar today, I’m not sure what universe they are on, but it seem to be completely different from our reality.

“Anas Sarwar today told Congress about all the great work the British Labour government are doing in terms of Grangemouth, and yet here we with he site closing only hours after his speech.

“These governments will never be forgotten or forgiven for what they have done.”

Referring to the British government’s now defunct promise of cash to lever private capital investment into the site, Unite Scottish secretary Derek Thomson said: “John Swinney and Anas Sarwar will face the wrath of voters for their broken promises to the workers and the people of Grangemouth.

“Anas Sarwar pledged hundreds of millions to save the refinery and to fund a transition to renewable industries under a Labour government.

“Instead, not one job will be saved at the refinery, not one job will be created for years by Project Willow, and not one penny of the £200m National Wealth Fund can be unlocked without private investment.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added: “Starmer and Swinney have allowed one of the worst self-inflicted blows to happen in generations and they will face the electoral consequences.”

Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman, an outspoken critic of the failure of governments to intervene and deliver a sustainable future for the site and its workforce, said: “Once again Scotland is the victim of industrial devastation and workers have been failed by the political class.

“We all know the Conservatives, when in power in Westminster, and the SNP, still in charge at Holyrood, did absolutely nothing to avert this catastrophe. 

“But the truth is that Scottish Labour leadership made a promise to step in and save the jobs at the refinery. What has happened to that promise?

“I don’t want any politician to dare utter the phrase ‘just transition,’ because what we have at Grangemouth is the very definition of an unjust transition.

“Nothing has been learnt from the decimation of the mining communities of the 1980s. 

“The Labour government rightly deemed Scunthorpe worthy of intervention — but why not Grangemouth?  

“I’m disgusted at the broken promise made in the general election campaign and the appeasement to the private capital in charge at Grangemouth at the expense of workers.

“That is not what the Labour Party should ever do.”