‘Certain inevitability' to Grangemouth closure when Labour won power
Michael Shanks said the UK Government 'did not take any option off the table' when asked about whether Scotland's last oil refinery could have been nationalised.
But he said the plant was 'far too far down the line' for the outcome to have been averted.
The plant ceased crude oil processing in April, with its closure causing the loss of 430 jobs.
The SNP had previously called for the UK Government to nationalise the site, which its owners said was losing £385,000 a day.
Appearing before the Scottish Affairs Committee in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Shanks, who is the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, said the Government is 'not in the business of nationalising failing businesses'.
However, he also described Grangemouth currently as a 'hugely investable opportunity' for businesses.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously announced £200 million in funding for the future of the site, cash which he hopes to triple in private investment.
That came after the Scottish Government had announced £25 million in funding, while both governments funded Project Willow – a £1.5 million report into future options to keep the plant open.
Asked about whether the UK Government considered bringing Grangemouth into public ownership, Mr Shanks told MPs: 'I think it is fair to say we didn't take any option off the table and we did look at a whole series of options.
'But firstly, the Government's not in the business of nationalising failing businesses.
'That is difficult to say, but it is the reality that a business that's losing tens of millions of pounds, it can't be nationalised with the public facing the cost of that.
'That's the same position we're in with the Prax Lindsey refinery (North Lincolnshire), and it's the same position with Grangemouth.'
Mr Shanks said Labour 'moved every possible option forward' to do what it could to save the refinery, but added: 'The truth is, we were far too far down the line with the Grangemouth process to really change the outcome and as regrettable as that is, and it genuinely is, and I've met the workers on a number of occasions, I know how significant the impact is on them and their families, there was a certain inevitability about the outcome by the point in which we came into Government.'
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