GRANGEMOUTH workers took the fight for their jobs and the future of their community to the doorstep of the Scottish Labour Conference today.

Rallying behind 400 hard hats — one for each worker set to lose their job — the Unite union and its members called on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to live up to his pre-election promises and deliver a Westminister government intervention to save Scotland’s last refinery.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told the rally: “The Labour government, these Labour politicians and the Scottish government are on the verge of colluding in a catastrophe.

“Last week, Anas Sarwar told us, sorry, ‘Labour hadn’t done enough for Grangemouth’. Now, this week, John Swinney announces a transition fund which accepts closure.

“You might as well call it the post-closure fund. 

“If Grangemouth goes, these Labour and SNP politicians will never be forgiven or forgotten.”

Chris Hamilton, a union rep at the site, said: “The oil and gas workers of today can go on to be the future green energy workers of tomorrow.

“So what exactly are we waiting for?

“What’s playing out at Grangemouth is the exact opposite of a just transition.”

Turning to the promises made by Mr Sarwar during the general election to save their jobs, he added: “As a worker at Grangemouth, I’m not demanding that the Labour Party do anything radical.

“The reality is they don’t even need to listen to us or take our advice, they just need to start doing what they themselves said they would do.

“Labour are now in charge of this country. Promises have been made, communities have been assured, but it has come to nothing. 

“Will Labour continue to sit on their hands or will they stand up to secure a future for Grangemouth and keep Grangemouth working?”

Local Labour MP Brian Leishman, who joined Labour MSPs Richard Leonard, Carol Mochan, Katy Clark and Mercedes Villalba in standing in solidarity with the workers, told the Morning Star: “I still firmly believe it is not too late for the UK government to step in and to do the right thing.

“We are the party of the trade union movement and working class. We must step up and do what is right and that is to intervene, to save the jobs and deliver a truly just transition for the workers at Grangemouth.”