I’ve been following a series of local issues and wrote to Graham Stuart along the lines detailed below, so thought I’d share especially given the further recent news on INEOS making a start on redundancies at Saltend.
I, like many others, am deeply concerned about the long-term viability of both Saltend and Easington gas plants and the wider industries and lack of new major capital projects coming to the area. The loss of Vivergo to the area highlights the stark contempt that the weak Labour Government shows us.
The acquiescence to Trump’s tariffs on ethanol are frankly a kick in the teeth to the North East and are entirely undeserved – no one stood up to them. The impact on the plant and the associated families will spread further as other support sectors become affected.
What surprises me, though, is the lack of protest and opposition to this locally, both within Hull and the surrounding areas for which engineering, supply chains, support services and agriculture will be affected.
I expected that unions – who have made a merry song and dance over the completion of work at Saltend in the past – would be beating on the gates and the doors of Parliament in opposition to the collapse of industry. I would have expected local MPs, both Labour and Conservative, to have felt the same. What happened? What happened to the local mayor leading the charge? What happened to him? Where is the politically driven indignation and protest at an assault on the prosperity of the area?
Ed Miliband’s assault on the oil and gas sectors and lack of prospects by endorsing a replacement industry will lead to further closure, loss of key skills and make it harder for the area to recover in the long term. Even last year before Labour came in, a huge renovation of the offshore systems had been planned. Its loss, and Labour’s cuts to gas production, stopped it in its tracks, and high-skilled engineering work in Hull has suffered as a result.
While Miliband has kicked any notion of new H2 and CCS further down the road, investment decisions are not expected for another year, and local people in Hull and East Riding will suffer the stagnation that a lack of commitment brings. What’s left?
We cannot continue with this Government and its terminal negativity, crippling taxes and lack of real support in the way of industry and the long-term stability it brings. While the £20 million (over 10 years) helps, it’s a sticking plaster for an area that deserves far more.
Richard Pearson.
Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart responds: “People expected this Labour Government to protect workers, especially in cutting-edge industrial clusters like at Saltend. Vivergo led our national bioethanol industry while INEOS is one of Britain’s leading industrial conglomerates.
“So, I share the shock that Labour sold out Vivergo and INEOS, leading to mass job losses and a weakening of our local, and national, chemical industries. Vivergo had the rug pulled out from under it by a Prime Minister who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, stand up for this country in trade negotiations. INEOS is suffering from a government that refuses to protect British industry in a changing world.
“Once again, it’s the working people who will suffer from Labour’s decisions and I’m concerned for the future of Saltend. Every time a Labour minister makes an international trade move, it seems British industry, like Saltend, suffers.
“I’ve written to the Government to ask why it tolerates uncompetitive trade practices and what it will do to protect the 240 jobs which remain at INEOS. We need our national chemical industry at Saltend but, for some reason, this Government seems to be slaughtering the goose that laid the golden egg without a second thought.
“The Humber is the Energy Estuary, and I want to see it thrive. We need the Government to change tack and start talking this country up for once, and I will be continuing to do just that.”
A Government spokesman said: “We know this is a tough time for our chemicals industry, who are paying the fossil fuel penalty, with wholesale gas costs remaining 75 per cent above their levels before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Our modern Industrial Strategy is slashing electricity costs by up to 25 per cent for sectors including chemicals, and the UK’s independent Trade Remedies Authority has the power to investigate the impact of cheap imports if requested by industry.
“We recognise that the events at Saltend will be difficult for all affected workers and their families, and we continue to engage with the wider sector to explore potential solutions that will ensure a viable chemicals industry in the UK.”