Part of First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 21 November 2024.
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I do not think that I could commit to earlier publication of the project willow report. In essence, that is why, in my answer to Michelle Thomson, I argued for more time to reach a situation where other credible opportunities can be pursued. Such opportunities take time to develop. From the Government’s perspective, the important point is that the closure of the refinery needs to be delayed. That is the Scottish Government’s position.
With regard to other potential proposals, I have set out to Parliament the importance that I see in the investment in the Acorn carbon capture and storage project, which would provide significant opportunities to the Grangemouth site. I was very disappointed that we did not get any progress on the issue in the United Kingdom budget in late October. I made that point again to the Prime Minister, because I believe that the Acorn project would provide us with significant opportunity to take forward and address Mr Kerr’s significant point.
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