Grangemouth is saved. But where is the joined-up strategy for the rest of heavy industry?

“Our commitment is clear: to back British industry, to stand by hardworking families, and to ensure places like Grangemouth can thrive for years to come,” said Keir Starmer as the Ineos ethylene plant on the Firth of Forth was saved for the nation with the help of £120m of public money.

- Nils Pratley

Is the commitment clear, though? What, precisely, does the prime minister mean by “places like Grangemouth”? Which heavy industries and plants are to be shielded from the forces of sky-high energy prices and carbon taxes? Is there a strategy here? Or does intervention happen only at the 11th hour when an important plant is threatened with imminent closure and ministers panic about knock-on consequences?

The ethylene plant at Grangemouth, we now know, falls within the protected camp. The government is willing to suffer any embarrassment that comes with handing financial support to a firm controlled by a foreign-based billionaire, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.