Lord Davies of Gower
Main Page: Lord Davies of Gower (Conservative - Life peer)
Sajid Javid
First, let me say that this is obviously a very difficult situation for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents. I am working with him, and I stand ready to work in any way I can to help him and to listen to what he has to say. The meeting I have already had with him was very useful, but I look forward to many more as we jointly try to help with this situation. He asked three questions, one of which was about the customer base. One of the most important things we can do—and we are doing it—is provide confidence that we can help to find a buyer that will secure the long-term interest of the steelworks, because that is what the customer base is going to want. We are in touch with many parts of the customer base—I talked earlier about the auto and aerospace industries—and providing that confidence is going to be key to reassuring them that they do not need to look elsewhere.
The hon. Gentleman asked about the blast furnaces, which I went to see in action just last week. They are hugely important, but I do not think I am in a position to say exactly what the structure of the business should be going forward. We will work with all parties to make sure that we can secure as many jobs as possible and that steelmaking continues. Lastly, he asked about the lesser duty rule. I point out to him that it has been the long-standing view of the previous Labour Government and this Government that in general the lesser duty rule gets the right balance in terms of the interests of industry and consumers. The last two British Trade Commissioners that were sent to Brussels, both appointed by Labour and both Labour peers, strongly supported that rule. As I said earlier, what I am interested in is what actually works to help the industry and what we have seen so far is that the tariffs imposed actually work, leading to massive reductions in Chinese imports.
Byron Davies (Gower) (Con)
Labour’s Front-Bench interest in steel production is a new phenomenon; in the last Parliament, the current Leader of the Opposition mentioned steel three times, but only in relation to Trident. Given the recent grandstanding by certain elements of Welsh Labour, does my right hon. Friend agree that this contributes absolutely nothing to assisting the many Tata Port Talbot steelworkers who live in my neighbouring constituency of Gower?
Sajid Javid
I was pleased that my hon. Friend and I were able to talk in the past few days to discuss his constituents’ concerns. I agree with what he said, but I would like also to take this opportunity to reassure him that we will work closely with him and other Members to bring confidence to constituents that we truly are doing everything we can to help.