Category 4 Steel Imports: Tariff-free Quotas
Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Leong(1 week, 2 days ago)
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Lord Leong (Lab)
I remember our exchanges across the Dispatch Box. As I said then, I will say now that we are mindful of the specialised steel used in any of the industries that require a speciality type of steel. We will monitor the usage but, as it stands, any steel that is not manufactured in this country—which is imported—is outside the scope of the tariff.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his answers. He is always informative, courteous and diligent at that Dispatch Box. If it is true that we have, as reported, widened the quota for India, we have presumably done so on two very sensible grounds. The first is good relations with India. This is a really important trade deal, and we can hardly renege on it when the ink is barely dry. The second is that we want to boost our domestic economy and, as the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, says, we do not want to place British manufacturers at a relative disadvantage vis-à-vis the rest of the world by forcing up their input costs. Why does that apply only to India? Should we not take the same approach to our trading partners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the GCC, the European Union and elsewhere? Of course, the real answer is to cut energy costs but, until we get there, it does seem crazy that we are going down this Trumpian route of having these immensely high tariffs, which always serve to the detriment of the industries they are supposed to protect.
Lord Leong (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for those kind words. We do not import steel only from India. In fact, the largest import of steel is actually from the EU, followed very closely by Vietnam, then India, and not forgetting South Korea. Those are the principal importers of steel into this country. As I said earlier, we have not changed the quotas as far as India is concerned. We continue to engage regularly with India and with Tata, which is owned by an Indian company, on the usage of steel in this country.
Steel Tariffs
Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Leong(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Lord Leong (Lab)
I always agree with my noble friend. We have listened carefully to downstream steel users and designed these measures to balance manufacturers’ needs with the imperative to protect domestic steel production. Imports will continue to play an important role, and transitional arrangements will provide flexibility for some of the contracts that I have identified earlier. Delaying implementation would leave the UK exposed to damaging global overcapacity while our international partners act. We will continue to engage closely with the European Union as discussions progress.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Non-Afl)
My Lords, the French economist Frédéric Bastiat said that the distinguishing feature of a good economist is looking beyond the visible and seeing the secondary consequences. There are some 34,000 people employed in the steel sector in this country; one can argue about whether protectionism will help even them. Let us look at the numbers in the steel-using industries: 183,000 people work in the automotive sector, 452,000 in agriculture and 2.8 million in construction. These sectors either cannot buy the kind of steel they need other than through imports, or cannot get the volume from the UK alone. Will the Minister tell us what assessment has been made of the impact of pushing up the cost of these imports, especially in the north-east and the West Midlands, which are hubs for the aeronautic and automotive sectors?
Lord Leong (Lab)
I say to the noble Lord that the steel sector is a very important part of our industrial strategy. That is why the Government are taking steps to protect the steel industry. It is not just another commodity; it underpins everything we do, including in the defence, infrastructure, manufacturing and energy sectors. We are intervening to protect our domestic production and we are protecting jobs up and down the country; whether it is in the Midlands or elsewhere, we are doing what is required of a Government to protect jobs.
EU Directive: Adequate Minimum Wages
Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Leong
Lord Leong (Lab)
My Lords, I fully acknowledge that businesses face challenges and that micro-businesses operate with narrow margins and encounter real pressures, and these businesses are the ones that employ young people. However, the evidence consistently shows that paying staff fairly strengthens businesses in the long run: higher wages and lower staff turnover boost morale and productivity and help businesses keep experienced workers. Crucially, these wages are then spent within local communities, often in small shops, cafés and services right across the country. A national living wage supports not only workers but the resilience of local communities.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
My Lords, we have been lucky enough to have a 30-year run of structurally low unemployment, which is now coming to an end, especially with younger workers—partly because of the national insurance rise that the noble Lord, Lord Fox, just raised; partly because of the general economic situation; partly because of the Employment Rights Act; but also partly because of these huge recent rises in the minimum wage, which have especially hit the hospitality industry. Does the Minister see the danger that as we have more and more workers’ rights, we have fewer and fewer workers?
Lord Leong (Lab)
The noble Lord would not expect me to agree with him, and I do not. As I mentioned in yesterday’s debate on the regret amendment, and I shall share it again, Confucius reminds us that harmony among people is the best foundation for great achievement, and when we work together, success belongs to all. We have to address this issue of disparity between workers who are paid less and less in the overall scheme of things and the average wage in the country. We need to balance that up to two-thirds of the median wage.
UK/US Free Trade Agreement
Debate between Lord Hannan of Kingsclere and Lord Leong(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Lord Leong (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that point—it is absolutely true. As I said, our relationship with the US has to be strong. We have so many partnership agreements, whether it is on defence, trade co-operation and so on, so we have to work with the incoming Administration, come what may.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
My Lords, the US is not just our single biggest market; it is bigger than our second, third and fourth markets put together, and nearly as big as our second, third, fourth and fifth put together. A million Brits turn up every day to work for US-owned companies, and a million Americans turn up every day to work for British-owned companies. Will the Minister confirm that, if we followed the suggestion of the Lib Dem Front Bench and joined the EU customs union, not only would we not be able to negotiate a trade deal, either with the US or with anyone else in the world, but we would be subjected to all the tariffs that Trump is likely to impose on the EU in return for no benefit whatever?
Lord Leong (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that question. We have taken back control. We work with the US, the EU and every other country. We are an open trading economy, and that benefits both our businesses and consumers.