Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's questions.

At question number one, I call Douglas Ross.

Thank you, Mr humour. I want to concentrate my first question today on the announcement this morning,

that the Grangemouth refinery will shut after 100 years of operation.

The decision to close Scotland's only refinery will see 400 jobs lost directly

at Grangemouth. This is a devastating blow to the workforce, the Falkirk area and the entire

Scottish economy. Supporting the employees at this difficult time must be the priority of both of Scotland's

governments.

A PWC report published this morning said that the economic contribution of the refinery,

supply chain and employee spending was £403.6 million in 2023, and it is estimated to support 2,800 jobs across Scotland.

So I ask the First Minister to outline his Government's response to this announcement

and say what support the Scottish Government will put in place to support the employees at this difficult time.

First Minister. This is a profoundly serious issue.

My first thoughts at the outset of the handling of this issue is with the workforce who will

face great uncertainty as a consequence of the announcement that has been made this morning by

Petro Ineus. There has been extensive engagement and dialogue between the Scottish

Government and the United Kingdom Government with Petro Ineus about this issue.

Both governments have made the case for refining to be continued for as long as it was

possible and certainly not for the announcement to be

made today that refining will be closing will be ending in quarter two of 2025 because mr ross is

correct that will raise significant economic implications for scotland it was for this reason

that i raised this issue in my first conversation with

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