.png?width=1200&height=630&rmode=max&scale=both&w=860&resize=860,0&ssl=1 "Lindsey Refinery Collapse Exposes Need for Strong Industrial Policy and a Just Transition")
The collapse of the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire has become a defining moment in the UK’s industrial and energy policy debate. Nearly a third of its workforce—125 people—will lose their jobs at the end of October, following the refinery’s descent into administration earlier this year.
Lindsey, once supplying nearly a quarter of the UK’s diesel market, is the second major refinery to face closure in less than a year. Unite the Union has condemned the government’s refusal to intervene, despite what it says are at least two credible bids to buy and operate the site. Instead, administrators appear intent on decommissioning the plant and converting it into an oil storage terminal—a move unions argue will hit local employment and undermine national energy security.
The crisis has exposed wider fault lines in the UK’s approach to the energy transition. Unite’s National Oil Refineries and Terminals Committee (NORTCC) described the closure as chaotic and unsafe, warning that maintenance and safety protocols have collapsed as redundancies mount. Workers with decades of service have been dismissed without compensation, while technical staff are being laid off with days’ notice.
Union leaders say Lindsey is not an isolated case but part of a pattern of “decarbonisation by deindustrialisation.” Across Europe, refineries and heavy industries are shutting down in the name of transition, while new investment, retraining and alternative employment fail to materialise.
IndustriAll Europe sees the situation in Lindsey as another example of poor management of the transition to net zero in Europe and the prioritisation of market driven and short term financial decisions.
We are calling for an alternative approach based on investment and developing a Just Transition framework that guarantees training, alternative jobs, and site safety during industrial change. We need real industrial policy answers to keep jobs through transformation. If refineries like Lindsey disappear, the whole supply chain is disrupted, dependencies increase, and irreplaceable industrial skills are lost.
General Secretary of industriAll Europe, Judith Kirton Darling said: “We stand in full solidarity with Unite and the workers in Lincolnshire. A strong industrial strategy with a Just Transition approach it is the only way to rebuild trust, protect strategic industries, and deliver a sustainable future for workers”