Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

Lord Hunt of Wirral Excerpts

3rd reading
Monday 13th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, steel has shaped our nation’s history. It has built railways, bridges, factories, ships, homes, energy infrastructure and defence capability. It remains essential to our future—to growth, resilience, national security and the critical infrastructure on which our country depends. This legislation is one part of the Government’s wider commitment to the steel sector. It gives us the tools to act decisively if strategic steel-making capability is at risk. It supports our objective of restoring confidence, protecting jobs, strengthening domestic capability and securing a sustainable future for UK steel.

I express my sincere gratitude to noble Lords from across the House who have contributed to the scrutiny of the Bill. In particular, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Sharpe of Epsom, Lord Hunt of Wirral and Lord Fox, for the constructive, professional and friendly way in which they have engaged throughout. I am genuinely grateful. I also thank other noble Lords who have spoken with deep knowledge of industry, constitutional practice, devolution, public finance, workers’ interests and the wider economy; their contribution has helped ensure that this House has done its job properly. Finally, I thank the Bill team, my private office, officials from across government, the devolved Government officials who have engaged with us, parliamentary counsel and the House authorities for their work in supporting the passage of this legislation at pace and under considerable pressure.

This House has sent a clear message. The United Kingdom must be able to act when a strategic industry is at risk. We must protect steel-making capability, support workers and communities, and safeguard the critical supply chains on which our national resilience depends. I beg to move.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friends Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Redwood, and the noble Lord, Lord Fox, for their considerable contributions and the expertise they have demonstrated throughout our consideration of the Bill. I also pay tribute to the two committees of this House that have contributed so much to our understanding of this urgent matter in their excellent reports—the Constitution Committee and the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.

I also extend my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Leong, the Minister, who has taken a very close interest throughout not only in the case for the Government taking the action that they have but in understanding our concern on a number of aspects. I thank his officials and the Bill team for all their hard work. Although significant differences remain between us, the Minister has always engaged constructively with concerns raised on all sides of the House, and I believe that the Bill has been improved as a result of that engagement.

Working together, we have secured a more credible sunset mechanism: any extension of the principal transfer powers will be limited to two years and will require the affirmative approval of both Houses. We have secured provisions requiring the Secretary of State to consider the likely costs before exercising the share transfer power or the property transfer power. We have also ensured that the relevant environmental, pension, and health and safety liabilities must be properly reflected in the independent valuation process.

We particularly welcome the greater parliamentary controls secured in Clauses 39 and 45: regulations under Clause 39 concerning the consideration and terms attached to continuity obligations will be subject to the affirmative or “made affirmative” procedure; regulations under Clause 45 concerning the enforcement of obligations arising from share or property transfers will be subject to the “made affirmative” procedure rather than the negative procedure originally proposed.

The Minister’s commitment to debates in both Houses on the steel strategy and the impact of this legislation is also very welcome, as are his assurances that any exercise of transfer powers will require an impact assessment and that quarterly Written Ministerial Statements will be provided for at least the first year in which a steel undertaking remains in public ownership. Those Statements will give Parliament the information that it needs to scrutinise operational performance, public expenditure and the consequences for workers, communities and the wider steel industry.

Nevertheless, a great deal of work remains to be done. Nationalisation may provide the Government with an emergency power, but it is not an industrial strategy. It cannot substitute for commercially viable businesses; for competent, market-aware management; and, above all, for sustained private sector investment. I came into the House 50 years ago, and we had experience of state ownership in the 1970s. I must tell the House that that provides no grounds for confidence or complacency. We must not allow what is intended to be temporary public ownership to default into an expensive and permanent arrangement. The long-term future of British steel depends on the United Kingdom once again becoming an attractive and affordable place in which to invest, to produce and to employ people. That requires us to confront the fundamental barriers facing steel and other energy-intensive industries.

Ministers have to address our internationally uncompetitive industrial electricity prices. They must examine the cumulative burden of the emissions trading scheme and the carbon border adjustment mechanism. They must consider the costs imposed by their employment policies as well as the ever-expanding burden of regulation, reporting and compliance. Unless those underlying problems are addressed, nationalisation will merely transfer the consequences of an uncompetitive business environment from private shareholders to the taxpayer; it will not resolve them.

Our objectives must therefore be clear: to secure the private investment that the steel industry desperately needs to preserve strategic domestic steel-making capacity and skilled employment, but also to minimise the exposure to the taxpayer. We welcome the improvements made to the Bill and the assurances placed on the record by the Minister. However, we will continue to scrutinise closely the use of these exceptional powers, the costs that arise from them and the Government’s progress in returning any nationalised undertaking to an investable, competitive and commercially viable future.