The constituency of Alloa and Grangemouth has made the headlines recently, as the Labour Government has been heavily criticised for prioritising profit over people when deciding what the future holds for the constituency’s largest employer: the oil refinery.

Sounding the alarm on this is none other than Brian Leishman, the MP elected to the seat last year. Brian was a former Councillor in Perth and Kinross before running for Labour in the General Election.

He has been raising the profile of the issues affecting Alloa and Grangemouth since being elected, as well as calling out the Government on everything from the fiasco over welfare cuts to its betrayal of women fighting for state pension equality.

A couple of weeks ago, Brian had the Labour Whip suspended, alongside three of his colleagues, for being a thorn in the Leadership’s side, particularly on the Welfare Bill.

Prior to this, Brian spoke to us for the latest volume of The Educator: Shaking Up the PLP, discussing his first year in office and what influence left-wing Labour MPs can have under Starmer.

You can watch him in action below.

⬤ First I’d like to say a huge congratulations your election last year. It’s great to see more socialist and progressive Labour MPs such as yourseld enter Westminster to fight for real Labour values. How would you summarise your experience of being an MP so far?

Working with local organisations across Alloa and Grangemouth and trying to improve things for people and communities makes mine the best job in the world. I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with some inspirational people that do so much good for others in our constituency.

Being in Westminster and being involved with campaigns and trying to impact the government’s position on things is not without its frustrations, but it is an enormous privilege.
However long I am here all I want to do is to represent my constituents and make things better.

⬤ You’ve been a leading campaigner on the fight to protect jobs in your constituency of Alloa and Grangemouth, particularly with the closure of the oil refinery that has left the community in the lurch without a long-term plan. What are the social and political impacts of the Labour Government’s failure to protect the jobs of the workers at Grangemouth?

Grangemouth is synonymous with heavy industry, oil has been refined in Grangemouth for a century and the impact of the refinery closing is not just felt in the town, but all over Scotland.

We have seen 435 highly skilled jobs lost on site and 2,822 in the wider supply chain. Whenever industry leaves then so does wealth and prosperity and the economic and social consequences that come with deindustrialisation are devastating – the closure of the mines and breweries in Clackmannanshire in the 1980s and 90s on the other side of the
constituency shows that.

Grangemouth businesses like the cafes, restaurants, pubs, hairdressers, hotels will all suffer. To a reasonable extent they relied on refinery custom and the influx of workers into the town.What comes next at Grangemouth is of paramount importance. I have been critical of the fact that EY have been paid £1.6 million (£800,000 each from the UK and the Scottish Governments) to come up with the proposals of what the industrial future of the site should be. EY reports back in the first instance to Petroineos (a combination of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS and PetroChina who are the petrochemical company of the Chinese State) and then Petroineos determines what the composition of the site’s industrial future will be. That is wrong.

The Labour Government has sanctioned £200 million from the National Wealth Fund to entice private capital into the site and I have repeatedly pressed the Labour front bench on what form of government ownership we will take in these new industries. The answer is none. That is also wrong. That means no political lessons are being learned – we know that private capital will always put profit ahead of people, communities and what is good for a nation.

⬤ Polls show the Labour Government losing vital support and the far right looks set to benefit. With Reform UK creeping ahead, how is it best for Labour in Government to tackle the surge of the far-right?

People are disillusioned after 14 years where the Tories decimated communities by ripping apart the social safety net and pursued their programme of cuts all while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest. People really do need “change” and that was why we got elected last summer.

But the first year in government has not been good enough. The approval polls show that. How do we turn it around? For me, it’s simple. Improve people’s living standards. If we make people better off, reduce their bills, give them a functioning health service, their kids better education and invest in public services then people and the country will be a happier and more tolerant place.

⬤ You have given clear indications that you are on the left of the Labour Party. How can socialist and progressive MPs have an influence even though you’re in a minority in the Parliamentary Labour Party?

The solutions to the societal problems created by 4 decades of privatisation, the erosion of living standards by austerity, the acceleration in wealth inequality after the pandemic and the creation of a corporate cost of greed crisis that has made millions poorer all lie in left wing politics.

It is up to the left of the Parliamentary Labour Party to represent and articulate these solutions both inside and outside of Westminster. When I go back to my two CLPs, or when I speak with grassroots Labour Party members, they want an end to austerity. They want a shift in power and a redistribution of wealth across society for the benefit of the many.

A year into this Labour government and the rank and file party members feel the same as the rest of the country – they are not happy with the direction the party has travelled in and they are unimpressed with our first year in government. Take these recent welfare reforms. They are not the politics of a real Labour government. The members know that and there has been a vocal minority in the Parliamentary Labour Party that have been at the forefront of fighting these cuts and when you look at who has signed Reasoned Amendments and voted against the cuts at the Second Reading, then it is not just those on the left of the party.

⬤ What advice would you give to ordinary Labour Party members who are concerned about the reactionary policies of the Starmer Government? How can they use their energies effectively?

Firstly, and this is hugely important, stay. The Labour Party is still the most likely vehicle for changing the country – politically, economically and socially. Stay, get organised and get ready to offer a bold and transformational vision for the party and the country. That means attending meetings, taking positions in CLPs, putting class interests at the front and centre of all the politics we talk about and campaign on, and make sure that we reassert ourselves within the Labour Party.

⬤ How and when did you first get involved in politics? What motivated you?

I didn’t grow up in a political house. My parents would vote but politics was not a conversation round the table. But I have only voted Labour. It just seemed the right and natural thing to do.

Even though I always voted Labour, I didn’t join the party until 2016. The fiercely anti-austerity politics of the time was wonderful and real Labour Party values. It was an amazing time to go out and campaign and take the message that it didn’t need to be relentless cuts and everything getting worse. That an alternative was possible.

I am 42, and when I grew up, if a peer of mine was struggling then it was because mum and dad were unemployed. Poverty has changed now. Austerity has created the in-work poor where a family can have both parents working full time and there is not enough to cover life’s essentials. The fault for that lies at the door of politicians. And I think it is fair to say that friends being sick of hearing me moan about that led me to running for Council in 2022. “If you think you could do a better job, then do something!” So, I ended up getting elected that May and I threw myself into it. In all my working life I hadn’t known a feeling as satisfying and fulfilling as when managing to help a local resident with an issue or a problem.

⬤ What does socialism mean to you?

I suppose, for me, it means common sense, really. People working together for their own, everyone else’s and society’s benefit. Socialism is kindness, compassion, cooperation, equal and just. How you would want to be treated and how you should treat others.