THE UK Government should issue a reprieve for the 1000 plus jobs that could be lost when Longannet power station closes next year, an SNP candidate in Fife has said.
The election candidate for Dunfermline and West Fife, Douglas Chapman, said the UK could use its “broad shoulders” to save the plant which is set for closure in less than a year.
Chapman said that although councils had been asked to send letters requesting a meeting with the UK Government, no letters had been sent.
“If they wanted to, the UK Government could use the ‘broad shoulders’ of the UK to save Longannet from premature closure and save these 1,000 Scottish jobs.
“The question is where are these ‘broad shoulders’ when the workers at Longannet need them?” Chapman said.
“Locally we’ve had several visits from Scottish Ministers including Fergus Ewing and John Swinney, but the powers over UK energy policy and the regulator Ofgem, whose transmission charging structure is at the heart of the closure decision, lie at the door of the UK Government,” he added.
The plant near Kincardine in Fife is Scotland’s last coal-fired power station, but is set to be forced into a premature closure next year after failing to negotiate a contract with the National Grid.
Earlier this First Minister John Swinney said the National Grid system was “fundamentally flawed”, claiming that the “ridiculous” charges showed that the current National Grid system was “not fit for purpose”.
Longannet was forced to pay higher charges due to the fact it is based in Scotland and not near the population cluster of the south-eastof England, despite the fact it is located in close proximity to the central belt, which is Scotland’s most populated area.
Some 270 workers are employed directly at the Longannet power station but there are also an estimated 1,250 additional jobs which rely on the plant.
Richard Hardy of the Prospect Union previously said that around 1,000 of those who will be affected may not be able to find new jobs.
Hardy said: “The average worker is over 50 and the number facing losing their jobs is somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500. Some workers will find new jobs.
“But overall we are probably looking at 1,000 people adding to the jobless total and probably staying there.
“This is in an area where there is not a vast amount of jobs or riches.”
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