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It is reported that some of the repair and maintenance work that is connected with the refinery has been stepped down, which has led to an increase in breakdowns, including of the hydrocracker unit. What is your response to that?

What will be the impact of the refinery closure on Ineos O & P, which is also loss-making—I think that it lost £300 million last year—and the viability of that operation, given that there is input from the refinery to the processes of Ineos O & P?

I asked the previous panel about the status of the hydrocracker, a component that is key to the running and profitability of the refinery. What has Petroineos told you about what will happen to the hydrocracker?

Are you content that that is the intention of the business?

I think the announcement came as a great shock to the people of the area. I understand what you are saying about the macro position, markets and the rest, but it came as a big shock to people who live in the area that it is very likely—in fact it is almost certain—that the refinery will close in spring 2025.

When will the Government be in a position to publish an assessment of the economic impact of the closure? At the moment, as Colin Smyth said earlier, the implications and ramifications of the refinery closure are not very clear. When will the Government produce its economic impact assessment?

The economic impact assessment will no doubt be holistic and consider multiple possible outcomes to the situation that we are in, but I think that we can all agree that, as the convener mentioned earlier, there is little doubt that the refinery is closing.

Irrespective of the timing, a holistic economic impact assessment would consider all the factors. With regard to the path ahead, it is critical that we understand what will happen because of the closure of the refinery, whenever it happens for definite. Who is doing this piece of work and what is the estimate of when it will be available for all of us and for the people of the area, so that we can begin to get our head around the nature, extent and scope of the challenge, which undoubtedly it is?

Okay—so you do not recognise the potential impact on suppliers and contractors, which is thousands of jobs on the Grangemouth site?

But do you understand that that is the nature of the calculation of the impact?

If your seven times multiplier is right, we are talking about thousands of jobs.

I was interested in your reply to Brian Whittle about the background to the decision. Why on earth, given your response to Brian Whittle, did Andrew Gardner, your chairman, make the extraordinary statements that he made just a month before the announcement of the closure? He said that the future of Grangemouth was on the line because of the policies that were being pursued by the SNP and Labour.