PMQs silence on Grangemouth benefits SNP

Ed Davey is currently answering an urgent question in the Commons on the Grangemouth petrochemical plant. He urged Ineos and Unite to return to talks, describing the failure of the negotiations as ‘regrettable’.

As the questions from backbenchers to Davey continue, it’s worth noting that there wasn’t a single mention of the plant at Prime Minister’s Questions, even though the closure of that plant will lead to around 800 people losing their jobs. Ineos estimates that around 10,000 jobs rely indirectly on the factory.

The SNP have already picked up on this silence, and can quite easily argue that it shows that Westminster doesn’t care about jobs in Scotland. Even though the story has, as Fraser explains, about the failings in union tactics rather than those of ministers, it does not reflect well on the Westminster set up that neither Miliband nor any of those listed on the Order Paper used PMQs to press David Cameron on the matter, even if there was an urgent question straight afterwards.