Adrian Hanrahan said that energy costs had been high since the Ukraine invasion and warned that green levies and the pressure to decarbonise were making the situation worse.
The Managing Director of historic chemicals company Robinson Brothers said the plant, along with other manufacturers, had taken huge strides in increasing energy efficiency.
But with prices soaring again as a result of the Iran war, the cumulative pressure on the chemicals industry was becoming too much, he said.
He said of the Net Zero demands: “We’re trying to run a marathon in a sprint format.”
The sector employs more than 150,000 people directly and supports half a million jobs in the wider economy. It has annual exports worth £61 billion.
Robinson Brothers was founded in 1869 and had weathered calamities including two world wars, the Great Depression, the financial crisis and the Covid pandemic.
But not once has the family-run firm considered leaving its West Midlands roots. After the 2008 crash, Hanrahan pointed out that China might prove more lucrative.
“I explained they’d make more money”, he said, as he showed GB News around the 14 acre site in West Bromwich....<<<Read More>>>...
