BRITAIN’S biggest chemical plant will stay open after a £120 million government bailout to secure around 500 jobs at Grangemouth.

The site’s Olefins & Polymers (O&P) plant had faced an uncertain future, but after the Westminster government designated the site “strategically important,” a deal was struck which will see government investment bolstered by £30m from the plant’s owner, Ineos.

The move comes after the company shut down the Grangemouth refinery earlier this year, cutting Scottish manufacturing output by over 4 per cent and wiping 0.4 per cent from Scottish GDP at a stroke.

Hailing the the deal, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “When we said we’d protect jobs and invest in Britain’s future, we meant it — and this is proof.

“Through partnership, determination and our modern industrial strategy, we’re delivering new opportunities, fresh investment, and security for the next generation of workers in Scotland.”

Welcoming the government handout, Ineos owner and anti-trade union Monaco-based billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: “The agreement includes safeguards to protect taxpayers’ money, such as strict assurances that the funding can only be used to improve the site, and also gives the UK government the right to share in future profits.”

The Scottish government’s secretary for climate action and energy, Gillian Martin, also welcomed the deal as a “much-needed boost to the Grangemouth community and the workers,” a view shared by Unite general secretary Sharon Graham.

Arguing for “government to take bolder and more strategic investments in core British industries like Grangemouth to protect jobs and drive growth,” Ms Graham said: “This intervention for the future of the ethylene plant is a welcome step in the right direction — a sign it might be beginning to listen — but it must not be a one-off.”

Referring to the refinery, which, despite Labour Party assurances it would be saved, closed in April, she warned: “Many promises have been made in the past. This needs to be the start of a new direction of travel. 

“We cannot forget that Grangemouth is also the site where this government has allowed Scotland’s only refinery to close, rather than produce much-needed sustainable aviation fuel. 

“There has to be a joined-up strategy for a workers’ transition, backed by investment. British industry must be backed in a much better way, or jobs and skills will continue to go.”