Refinery future “must be secured”

Workers rallied outside the Lindsey oil refinery yesterday (Thursday 21 August), as demands on the government to take immediate action to secure its long-term future intensified.

The rally was just the latest in Unite’s campaign to protect jobs at the site, and follows a demonstration outside Grimsby Town Hall in July, along with a planned rally planned for Cleethopres on Sunday (24 August). 

Unite has been demanding that the government intervenes to protect workers, oil supplies and the local community since the announcement was made in June that the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery, in North Lincolnshire, had gone into administration.

Potential buyers have expressed interest in the site.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The government must do everything in its power to ensure a sale and safeguard jobs. Ministers should be urging any potential buyer to purchase the site as a whole to prevent it being split into parts.

“The Lindsey refinery is vital national infrastructure; it provides 10 per cent of the UK’s fuel supply and is crucial to the regional economy. Its future must be secured.”

Unite believes that the administration is a direct result of the government’s failure to protect and transition oil and gas workers. 

Below are photographs from the Unite rally outside Lindsey oil refinery. 

By Keith Hatch

Photos By Tom Heslop – Regional Digital Assistant, Unite NEYH