ExxonMobil’s decision to shut its Fife plant was driven by global strategy, not government failure. Brian Wilson argues that honesty and cooperation matter more than political point-scoring.

There will be a lot of worried people in Fife this week as their worst fears about the fate of the Mossmorran chemical plant appear to be confirmed. Not many of them will be entirely surprised. Neither will the wider audience who read newspapers.

The workers and communities deserve all the support governments can give them. What they do not need are political vultures whose primary interest is in making political capital out of their difficulties, with scant regard for facts or human empathy.

A brutal truth which applies to Scotland as much as any other part of the universe is that sometimes big, nasty corporations make decisions which they have no interest in reversing, no matter what governments offer. Exxon Mobil have apparently decided that, after 40 years, Mossmorran falls into this category.

Nobody with any sense would blame this on the Scottish Government, which has devolved responsibilities for industry, though it is worth noting that pre-devolution it is the Scottish Office that would have been in the front line of responsibility and accountability.

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But reciprocally, instead of instantly interpreting Mossmoran’s difficulties as merely a political opportunity, does the Scottish Government again find such difficulty in recognising that it is might not be the fault of the

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