I asked in the Lords yesterday
“What is the Government’s budget for steel losses this year and next? Will all that money be diverted from the steel modernisation provision in the current Budget?”
“The Government took action to stabilise operations at British Steel. We have appointed a new chair and asked him and the board to bring forward a transformation plan. Once that has been agreed, we will be in a better position to set out the long-term future, to attract private sector investment and to understand what this means for long-term public sector finance.”
Follow up questions were also blocked. Surely the government has a budget for the public spending costs of nationalised British Steel. We have been told it is losing £1.3 m a day and continues to trade thanks to money from the government said to be the provision of working capital
It is unacceptable that government has been in control of this business for more than a year and a half, still does not have a Business plan, and is unable to tell us how they will get the losses down. Taxpayers have to pay the losses to keep it going. It looks as if a £2,5 bn budget allocation for steel modernisation is being raided for these payments. The idea of the budget line was meant to be grants and loans to support the provision of new investment, particularly to build electric arc furnaces to replace blast furnaces.