Hutton: Govt's duty to public

Business secretary John Hutton has emphasised the importance of ensuring the public are not adversely affected by industrial action at Grangemouth.

Today is the second of two days of industrial action at the Scottish oil refinery, which Mr Hutton insisted was having a limited impact because of government contingency plans.

"I think it is impossible to imagine any system that isn't going to be vulnerable to some extent by industrial action. Fortunately we do live in a country where it is right that people have the right to withdraw their labour if they want to," he said on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme.

"My responsibility is to make sure the rights of the public not to be inconvenienced are fully taken into and respected as well, because we mustn't lose sight of the rights of the ordinary folk in Scotland to go about their business in a way they're not disrupted by this type of behaviour."

The disputing parties should return to the negotiating table "as quickly as possible", he added.