Miliband's Green Dreams Just Cost 440 People Their Jobs

By HOAR Team 30 June, 2025 4 mins read 90 Views

Well, this is awkward.

Ed Miliband's shiny net zero crusade just claimed another victim – and this time it's a big one. Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire went belly-up on Monday, taking 440 jobs with it and leaving critics wondering if anyone in government actually thought this through. State Oil, the parent company behind Prax Group, called in the administrators faster than you can say "renewable energy transition."

Here's the thing that's got everyone's knickers in a twist: we're down to just four major refineries now. Four. Scotland's Grangemouth facility already threw in the towel a few weeks back, and now Lindsey – which has been chugging along since 1968, processing 113,000 barrels daily – joins the casualty list.

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The Math Doesn't Add Up (And Neither Does the Policy)

Industry folks are pointing fingers directly at Miliband's decision to ban new North Sea oil licenses. The logic goes something like this: kill domestic production, import more refined fuel instead of crude oil, watch British refineries starve. It's like closing all the bakeries and wondering why nobody needs flour anymore.

Sharon Graham from Unite isn't mincing words. "The Government needs a short-term strategy to keep Lindsey operating," she said, probably while resisting the urge to add "you absolute muppets" at the end. Her union's been screaming about this cliff edge for months, but apparently Westminster had its fingers firmly planted in its ears.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Bureaucratic Speak...

Energy Minister Michael Shanks called the collapse "deeply concerning" – which is politician-speak for "oh crap, this looks bad." He's promising to investigate the directors' conduct, because nothing says decisive leadership like pointing fingers after the house burns down.

Poor Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, who runs Prax, probably wishes he'd kept his $168 million in his pocket back in 2021 when he bought Lindsey from TotalEnergies. Hindsight's a real pain sometimes.

The Desperate Scramble Begins

Word on the street is that Miliband's team is frantically considering electricity bill discounts for refineries. You know, the kind of support that might've been useful before companies started collapsing left and right.

At least Teneo's administrators are keeping the lights on for now – staff are still getting paid while they figure out if there's anything worth salvaging. The petrol stations and upstream business might find buyers, but that's cold comfort for the refinery workers staring down the barrel of unemployment.

Listen, I get the green transition thing. Climate change is real, renewables are important, all that jazz. But watching Britain's industrial capacity crumble while we pat ourselves on the back for our environmental virtue? That's not a strategy – that's just expensive virtue signaling with a body count.

The UK is now dangerously dependent on imported fuel, with fewer refineries to fall back on if supply chains get wonky. What could possibly go wrong?

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Did you miss our previous article...
https://hellofaread.com/politics/this-guy-just-got-kicked-out-of-reform-and-now-hes-going-nuclear