THE Labour government’s billion pound handout to Jim Ratcliffe’s Old Trafford redevelopment plan is a “betrayal of workers in Grangemouth” according to local Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay, who grew up just 200 yards from the refinery.

Rachel Reeves pledged support for the project, with up to £1 billion of taxpayers’ cash set aside to fund the tycoon’s vanity project in Salford.

Since taking power, Labour have failed to deliver on their promise to save jobs in Grangemouth, pledging merely 20 per cent of the funding they plan to give to Manchester United. Meanwhile workers have had redundancy notices handed to them and the end is creeping closer with no clear plan for the future of the refinery.

Scottish Greens Central Scotland MSP Gillian Mackay said: “Jim Ratcliffe’s ludicrous vanity project is a betrayal of workers in Grangemouth who are being laid off whilst the UK Labour government lines the pockets of the billionaire who is destroying our local community.

“I find it astonishing that Keir Starmer thinks he can get away with giving Jim Ratcliffe a billion pound handout of taxpayers’ cash to build an outrageous football stadium for a privately run business rather than saving jobs in Grangemouth. Labour promised to help workers in Grangemouth, but instead, they have thrown the community under a Manchester United team bus.

“Grangemouth is my home town, and it has been infuriating to watch promises being made by Labour just for them to fund this billionaire’s vanity project. People in the town have been let down so many times already, and rightly, they are angry at the UK government.

“Scotland deserves better than this. Imagine what that £1 billion could have been used for within communities like Grangemouth. Once again, this UK government has shown that their priorities are wrong.”