HUNDREDS of workers at Grangemouth have been served redundancy notuces as PetroIneos prepares to close Scotland’s only oil refinery.

As many as 500 workers at the site, and an estimated 2,500 more in the supply chain, are expected to lose their jobs in the coming months, in a process a company spokesman described as “safely transitioning the site from a refinery into an import terminal.”

The issuing of notices is a bitter blow to workers, campaigners, and the site’s leading trade union Unite, whose Keep Grangemouth Working Campaign urged state intervention to secure the site and deliver a fair transition for fossil fuel workers.

Despite Labour promises of an intervention in the run-up to last year’s general election, it never came.

Blasting the closure as a “national disgrace” and a “needless act of industrial vandalism,” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said. “There is a clear plan for the future of Grangemouth in place.

“Yet the UK and Scottish governments are missing in action.

“Just last week, the UK government announced the expansion of Heathrow and said that sustainable air fuel (SAF) will be needed.

“Well, Grangemouth can produce SAF — where is the joined up thinking?

“This the moment for the government to lead and stand up to Petroineos in the national interest.

“Today’s announcement will not deter us. We will fight for the future of the refinery and the associated jobs.”

Brian Leishman, furious Labour MP for Grangemouth and Alloa, was clear where the blame lay for the “economic and social disaster” about to befall the town.

He told the Star: “The Labour leadership might have given up on Grangemouth and its workers, but I certainly haven’t.

“I am putting the blame firmly at the door of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves and the everyone in party leadership who have meekly accepted PetroIneos’s agenda at every turn.

“What we have here is the very definition of an unjust transition, and Labour will pay a heavy price at the ballot box for delivering it.

“A few months ago during the election campaign, Anas Sarwar was happy to go on TV and promise the investment to keep Grangemouth working, but less than a year on, where is he?

“Where is Reeves? Where is Starmer?

“In this world there are doers and talkers, and the Labour leadership have shown Grangemouth exactly what they are.”

Gillian Mackay, the Scottish Greens MSP for Central Scotland, grew up just 200 yards from the refinery, and called it a “brutal blow” for Scotland and the community.

The UK and Scottish governments were asked for comment.