My Lords, these are indeed important amendments. It is a tragedy what has been happening to our steel industry in this country. It suffered considerable decline under the last Government thanks to very high energy prices and decarbonisation, which turned out to be disruptive. In the last full year of the Conservatives, we were down to 5.6 million tonnes of manufactured steel—around half our requirement.
There has now been a further very big collapse, such that our output last year was, I think, around half of that in 2023—around 2.5 million tonnes—and we are heading for an even smaller output this year unless the business plan is provided, kicks in and starts to do something to help the ailing Scunthorpe business that we are talking about. I think we are united in our belief that this is not what we want from our steel industry. It means that we have a chronic dependence—in the last year, 7.1 million tonnes—on imported steel and we are heading to a position where we import practically all our steel. I fear we will discover that, unless we do something about electricity prices, even when electric arc production starts to kick in on a bit of a bigger scale, it will be very difficult to sell that steel at a profit because the electricity costs are unrealistic and uncompetitive, as well as the general carbon taxes and carbon costs, which have been adversely affecting the blast furnaces.
Given our common interest in saving jobs and having a better steel sector, I again urge the Government to provide that plan and that thought-through work, which should be shared without the commercial secrets with the wider public and both Houses of Parliament. This would give us some confidence that there is a way out of this very deep tunnel that we are going down to producing less and less steel of our own.
The Government have clearly introduced very penal tariffs on importing steel from non-EU sources, with the 50% increase in tariff. They hope that that will change the situation but, because they have relaxed the quotas for the EU, I suspect that we are still extremely vulnerable to EU import competition at a time when our industry is not properly competitive. They will find that the tariffs will not protect the diminishing British steel industry, but that the much bigger and somewhat stronger steel-using industries in the United Kingdom will be very gravely affected, because more than half our imported steel may well have to come from sources that do attract tariffs. That will be very penal and, therefore, will reduce the amount of steel-using activity that we can undertake.
I urge the Government to take some of these points seriously. I am glad that two sensible amendments have been put forward to concentrate this debate.
July 2, 2026
Well said. Insane steel & industrial suicide from this government. We had far too much of this from the Tories even before Labour were gifted their huge majority by Sunak (gifted six months early for some reason)..
July 2, 2026
But but but, Milibrains is salivating. Another high
CO2 emitting industry destroyed. All going to plan.
Have you read the seventh climate change document. Next on the list is agriculturar, farms to reduce heads of cattle by 30%, grow lentils etc
Where does that leave our trade agreement with Australia having unlimited access to our beef market. Of course the emissions count against Australia not the UK. Never mind the loss of jobs and currency involved.
This whole climate scam is designed to bankrupt us and Parliament cheers it on.
July 2, 2026
I see the NESO business model is in full flow. After days of importing between 10 and 25% of our power on average at £115 per mwh, today we are exporting at £23 per mwh. Insane.
Remember milibrains is guaranteeing between 95 and £250 per mwh to new renewables it becomes a joke of a business model.
July 2, 2026
The bitter truth is without low cost reliable energy available 24/7 there will never be an industrial recovery in this country.
Talking about any single industry as in this case steel production is the same as talking about all manufacturing.
Ceramics, cement, chemicals, aluminium, glass, component manufacturing, car production, road maintenance, etc are all negatively impacted by high energy cost and will all close as foreign competitors are able to offer products produces in low energy cost regimes from across the world.
We had better wake up to our future fate very quickly, because we do not have much time left before our purchasing power is lost because we are no longer generating wealth to support our currency.
July 2, 2026
I fear we will lose all steel production capabilities for the sole reason that the socialist government is bereft of any business acumen. Surely they MUST seek advice from such knowledgeable quarters?
Or do they still practice with the standard socialist dogma that government always knows best? Such dogma brought an end to the USSR, and we’ll go the same way IF they do not seek advice from the experienced experts who may still be in abundance in this country.
However, I fear that too many have since abandoned the UK, driven out by the outrageously high taxes on their businesses and earnings.
This wretched socialist government is actually successfully doing the job ( words left out ed)Bringing GB to its knees and without any bombs and bullets, which apparently are also in short supply along with the other vitals for a solid defence of OUR nation.
And we have three more years of this to come? Who will bail us out this time?
July 2, 2026
Ministers Peter Kyle and Chris McDonald are probably higher calibre operators than typically limp Labour wasters, but what are they doing that is effective when the rest of Labour performs like a soggy heavy blanket on progress instead of doing what is needed?
July 2, 2026
The only reason we still have any steel production in this country is because Starmer couldn’t face down the unions or his own leftwing backbenchers. How could he tell them that it was the UK’s destiny to get out of the steel making business?
But why are so many ignorant of this fact? Along with so many other industries in this country, steel will soon go the way of the dodo, not because it couldn’t adapt or because they were unproductive. HMG has demanded it. The plans are there for all to see. HMG is deliberately destroying not just our industry and our way of life, but also everything worthwhile about the UK, our future.
HMG is temporarily keeping the steel plants going at a huge cost to the taxpayer, and already the Chinese are demanding £1Bn in compensation, while we import ever more steel – WHAT a dreadful mess!
According to the plans in ABSOLUTE ZERO, delivering zero emissions with today’s technologies requires the phasing out of flying, shipping, lamb and beef, blast-furnace steel and cement. Despite the fact that our emissions won’t make any difference to global Co2.
Now tell me that this labour government are truly going to stimulate the economy and have nothing but our best interests at heart!
July 2, 2026
The tragedy of the UK Parliament and its Government they just don’t understand ‘markets’. Open to competition means good supply at the right price.
Handing any industry over (as that what happens) to essentially a competitor works against the ‘market’. The UK Parliament and its Government also think big is best, so handing things to a large competitor is a given without further analysis.
In the situation with UK Steel Production, UK facilities were handed to large UK competitors that have the enviable luxury of being protected in their home markets. From the ‘get-go’ it was for them about more protection, extending their home production by removing a market place competitor. All the better the UK as the new host would chuck taxpayer money their way, ultimately be cajoled into buying from the home countries own production – the only aim.
The other way that the UK Parliament and its Government destroy the UK and its People is it allows these strategic security assets to go, to those that are not so high on the ‘friends’ list. Then couple that with the so-called take-over/buy-in is anything but, there is never money coming in for these purchase’s, never money available to invest and grow – a loan is arrange to cover the price then everything within the operation is sold/hocked to pay down the debt. So, a square one situation, purchases by competitors are about the removal from the market, never growing the market, never growing the acquired business. The proof is writ large every purchase in the last quarter of a century and more by those outside foreign operators especially those involving the UK needs its strategic security assets has been a disaster, it has simply handed other countries the ability to profit from the UK Parliament and its Governments ineptitude. Along with destroying UK jobs and prosperity