The UK government is about to double the tariffs on imported steel to 50%,and to reduce the tariff free quotas by a massive 60%. This means imported steel will become a lot dearer for all those steel using industries and for construction where they rely on imports. The government is using a Brexit freedom to do this.
The reason I presume they want to make steel so much dearer, raising business costs, is to protect the UK domestic steel industry. This is probably driven by their decision to make the taxpayer pay all the losses on the two remaining UK blast furnaces at Scunthorpe where the government intervened and took over managing these facilities from their Chinese owners. They did so to avoid closure and job losses, without bothering to reach an agreement on the transfer of the assets and the handling of the past debts from the Chinese company. At the time I urged them to sort out ownership and to ensure the UK would not be liable for past losses, for past debts, or have to pay any compensation on the transfer. When I last asked Ministers about how they are getting on sorting out the ownership and debt issues they declined to give details but acknowledged it remains a set of problems they are discussing with the owners. There are reports the Chinese are asking for compensation.
The most recent figure for the losses is £1.3m a day at Scunthorpe, well up on the reported losses at the time of the transfer of management. The payments for these losses are state aid, and would require EU consent if we were still in the EU or if we realign this sector under re set. The government needs to present a Business Plan with numbers to Parliament, as this is becoming a large commitment of public spending.
They also need to explain what their longer term plan is. They seemed to be pledged to close all blast furnaces as they burn coal, and substitute electric arc steel recycling. If this is also still the plan for Scunthorpe, when do they expect to close the blast furnaces? How long do they think they can and should keep these jobs given the loss rate and the longer term plan? There is of course a case to keep blast furnaces in the UK rather than importing virgin steel, but to do so economically requires a very different approach to energy provision and costs.
What impact will the new steel tariff and quota regime have on the losses at Scunthorpe? Will it make a big difference? Will Scunthorpe be able to sell more steel as a result? What is the estimated impact on the rest of UK industry and construction from dearer steel? The government’s attempt to save jobs could prove very costly to taxpayers, could end in the loss of the jobs, and could in the meantime just push up costs for steel users.
May 2, 2026
One mistake leads to another.
On Saturdays, people often shout ‘you don’t know what you’re doing!’ at bad referees.
Maybe the government does know what it is doing, but it is of no concern to them.
May 2, 2026
If they do know what they are doing they are clearly enemies of the UK as they are wrecking it. Either appallingly stupid or evil – take your pick. Perhaps most evil is the destruction of jobs for the young that they have caused with their doom loop agenda.
May 2, 2026
”The government needs to present a Business Plan with numbers to Parliament,..” Who in government could do this? Are there any businessmen in the CS? We know there are none in the Labour party. Who would make an investment decision based on CS business analysis numbers? The Great Central Main line remake is a good case study.
Here’s a bit of fun; look at the parallels of Starmer and May. Both brought down by Ollie Robbins, both wanted a ‘special deal’ with the EU, both think stopping fossil fuels will be good economic planning. May replaced by a court jester in the form of Bunter, Starmer may well be replaced by Rayner. There’s more but you get the picture.
May 2, 2026
There must be elections due. Trying to buy a few votes in Scunthorpe. Tariffs will soon be dropped after they get wiped out because destruction of the steel industry is part of mad Eds agenda. The steelwork could be rationalised at no cost as distressed assets but our dear leader wouldn’t want to upset his handlers.
May 2, 2026
Indeed.
Sir Mark Rowley is right to point out the stupidity of Zak Polanski’s foolish retweet and he is right to have apologised. But the real problem is blatant Two Tier Justice from people like Sir Kier Starmer, Sir Sadiq Kahn, the sentencing council, much of the legal profession all now DEI “educated” and people like the journalist’s microphone grabbing Sir Mark Rowley who has done almost nothing to deter blatant Anti-Semitism.
May 2, 2026
The Government isn’t rescuing Scunthorpe Steel, it’s just delaying closure for political reasons.
The Establishment’s Net Zero Insanity, enthusiastically promoted until very recently by the Not-a-Conservative Party and now being turbo-charged by Red Ed, is going to destroy all industrial manufacturing. And that appears to have been the plan all along.
May 2, 2026
Net-0 is starting to explode even more into our lives in a very real fashion.
Can anyone justify that irrationality?
That is small fry compared to what is now formulated.
They want us to stop importing anything!
In other news there is no light on the horizon.
Once gone they will be very hard to resurrect.
It just gets worse and worse!
May 2, 2026
It’s a decent holding pattern until a Reform government reduces energy costs and reintroduces indigenous energy sources. Probably common sense for a change, but they need a handover plan as well as a business plan.