Protecting Steel in the UK

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I can give way one more time, to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham)

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

When I was a young reporter on the Evening Gazette, the steel industry supported tens of thousands of jobs on Teesside alone. The decline started with Thatcher. When the Government abandoned Redcar nine years ago, numbers fell to a few hundred. Steel is a foundation industry. Surely we need primary steelmaking in this country if it has a real future.

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I agree entirely.