Daily Record | Sunday Mail | Sunday 23rd November 2025
Leading businesswoman Marie Macklin has criticised the lack of action from the UK Government after the announcement that the Mossmorran plant would partially close.
A leading businesswoman has accused Keir Starmer’s government of “washing their hands” of Scotland’s industrial base while supporting jobs in other parts of the UK. Property developer and investor Dr Marie Macklin launched the attack in the wake of news hundreds of workers face redundancy at the ExxonMobil Mossmorran chemical plant in Fife.
The Prime Minister has rejected calls to bailout Mossmorran with public money – in line with his administration’s refusal to intervene to save the Grangemouth oil refinery from closure earlier this year.
By contrast the UK Government stepped in to take control of British Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, to prevent it from closing in April. Ministers also agreed to underwrite a £1.5billion loan guarantee to Jaguar Land Rover in September in the wake of a cyber attack which halted production.
Macklin joined ExxonMobil’s UK chief in blaming punitive carbon taxes for Mossmorran’s closure and implored Chancellor Rachel Reeves to announce support for the energy industry in Wednesday’s Budget.
Writing for the Sunday Mail the serial entrepreneur, who was CEO of Kilmarnock based KLIN Group before founding the HALO regeneration project, said: “The news over the last week that Mossmorran is due to close with the loss of around 200 jobs is a devastating blow.
Coming so soon after separate moves to wind down production at Grangemouth, it shows there is a deep crisis for what remains of Scotland’s industrial base.
But the UK Government has – just as they have done with Grangemouth – effectively washed their hands of the issue by refusing to intervene to save jobs. That is unforgivable, especially when ministers have intervened for industrial facilities facing similar difficulties in other parts of the UK.
Both the UK and Scottish Governments, years ago, could and should have done more to prevent this situation. But the future of sites like Mossmorran and Grangemouth should not be the subject of political squabbling.”
Macklin, who was awarded a CBE in 2014, is the founder and executive chair of The HALO Urban Regeneration in her home town of Kilmarnock. She was previously the CEO of The KLIN Group from 2004 until 2014 and sits on the board of the Scottish North American Business Council (SNABC).
She writes: “We need to maximise job creation from the new green economy, that must not mean abandoning existing sectors such as oil and gas.”
Marie Macklin has called for more support for Scotland’s industry “The Mossmorran situation shows the hugely damaging impact of the regulations and costs placed on industry, including the carbon tax which has cost the Fife plant £200million a year alone, and which should be scrapped in the forthcoming UK Budget.”
Mossmorran’s owner ExxonMobil has also blamed government policy on the plant’s closure. UK chairman Paul Greenwood said: “Our ethylene plant and its closure is an example of how bad [government] policy is going to hurt jobs and undermine economic growth in the UK.”
He also accused Labour of damaging British business with its ban on new North Sea drilling, carbon taxes and high energy prices.
It comes as Rachel Reeves yesterday promised to get a grip on the cost of living to help support families after years of Tory austerity in the budget. She said: “Working families will be at the front of my mind as I set out how we will cut NHS waiting lists, cut national debt and cut the cost of living. These are the priorities of the country and my priorities as your Chancellor.
“Cutting NHS waiting lists because we promised we would pick the NHS up from its knees, reverse the years of austerity inflicted on us by the Tories, and stop patients languishing for months before getting the treatment they need.
“Cutting national debt because there is nothing progressive about spending £1 in every £10 on debt interest, when that money should be going into our schools, our hospitals, our police and our communities. Cutting the cost of living, because I know it remains the number one pressure on households.
“High prices, which are painful for all, hit ordinary families most. Mirror readers will know that the economy isn’t working for working people, and for too many it feels stuck. That’s why in my Budget on Wednesday I will take action to grip the cost of living.”
The Chancellor is expected to announce a £48million boost for 350 new planners to help unlock a building boom. Reeves used a rare pre-Budget speech to put the country on notice for tax increases, but the government appears to have u-turned on this.
Anas Sarwar meanwhile has said Scotland cannot rely on migrants to fill social care jobs. His comments come after a social care body said the UK government’s immigration proposals would have a “profoundly negative impact” on Scotland’s care sector.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a string of changes to the immigration system.
She is proposing that workers on post-Brexit health and social care visas wait 15 years before permanent settlement – up from five years currently.
Sarwar said the UK’s “broken immigration system” needed to be fixed, and better wages were needed to attract Scottish workers to social care roles.
He was speaking after Scottish Labour’s policy conference in Edinburgh, where he announced plans for a new specialist mental health service and more support for community policing.
Sarwar told delegates he was determined to deliver “big, bold and meaningful change” if his party wins next May’s Holyrood election.
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