UK and Scottish ministers to hold rival Mossmorran summits

Douglas Alexander and Kate Forbes have both planned separate summits

The Scottish and UK governments have invited each other to meetings amid confusion over efforts to support the closure-threatened chemical plant at Mossmorran.

Deputy first minister Kate Forbes is to meet with owners ExxonMobil at the Fife ethylene site on Tuesday, aiming to set up a taskforce alongside Scottish Enterprise.

But Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has called for Forbes to instead join a group led by Fife Council, and to attend a meeting of local business leaders set for Monday.

The plant is due to close in February, with 179 directly employed jobs at risk alongside those of 250 contractors.

ExxonMobil announced on Tuesday that there was no "competitive future" for the site, saying it would need nearly £1bn of spending to make it profitable.

Both the Scottish and UK governments immediately announced plans for a taskforce to support workers, although UK ministers also said they would not offer financial support to keep the plant open.

The Fife plant is due to close in February

Forbes was first to announce a summit, saying on Sunday morning that she would visit the plant alongside Scottish Enterprise while inviting groups including unions, the council and the UK government to meet on Tuesday.

Ms Forbes said: "Our immediate priority is to explore way to retain employment at the site and support the workforce through this period of uncertainty.

"In the meantime, this summit will bring together all the key stakeholders and I am keen that we consider every possible option to support the workforce at this distressing time."

Alexander then wrote to her saying she should get on board with a council-led taskforce instead, saying there should be a "Team Scotland" approach to supporting the workforce.

Alexander said it was an incredibly difficult time for workers and he hoped the government will attend the meeting.

He said: "I look forward to meeting Fife Council tomorrow to discuss how working together we can all best support the workers, mitigate the impact of the closure on the wider Fife economy, and look at alternative uses for the site.

"It is right that the response is focussed on local needs, and has clear governance structures."

Staff were told about plans to cease operations at the Fife site during a meeting on Tuesday morning, where details of financial packages and retraining and relocation support were discussed.

There is a possibility of 50 staff transferring to the Fawley Petrochemical Complex 480 miles (780km) away in Hampshire.

Contractors at the plant told BBC Scotland News that the closure announcement came as a shock.

The site has produced ethylene for about 40 years through a process known as thermal or steam cracking.

Exxon Mobil said it had been seeking a buyer for several months and it would clean up and then demolish the site once production ends.

This bizarre display of synchronised summitry would almost be funny if there weren't hundreds of jobs on the line.

The Scottish and UK governments actually do have a history of working together on issues like this, having jointly committed hundreds of millions of pounds to efforts to secure a green future for Grangemouth.

However, in this case they seem to be talking past each other and communicating by press release.

Fife is a key battleground between the SNP and Labour, and both are clearly keen to be seen to stand up for local workers. They both immediately announced they would set up taskforces, apparently without coordinating their efforts.

Ultimately this is a serious enough issue that following this flurry of meetings they will surely get their ducks in a row and figure out a way to cooperate.

But Grangemouth is also a reminder that if the private company behind the plant decide it's shutting, there's little that any government can do to change that, short of stumping up vast sums to nationalise it.

Finding alternative employment and supporting the workforce into new roles is going to end up being the true test of the "just transition" that is so often talked about.