UK Steel Industry

Debate between Angela Eagle and Mark Pritchard

Monday 29th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House notes the crisis in the UK steel industry; calls on the Government to support tougher EU action to ensure a level playing field and prevent the dumping of Chinese steel, to support scrapping the lesser duty rule which prevents higher tariffs being imposed that reflect the actual margin of dumping and to examine the implications of granting China Market Economy Status for the EU’s ability to tackle unfair trade; and further calls on the Government to publish a full industrial strategy which includes a procurement policy which commits to using British steel wherever possible for publicly-funded infrastructure projects and which supports industrial supply chains across the UK.

Britain’s steel industry is in crisis, and despite the warning signs flashing red, the Tories have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to come up with any kind of response. So far, it has been far too little and far too late. More than 5,000 UK steel jobs have been lost over the past 12 months. Redcar has been abandoned, the blast furnace and the coke ovens destroyed by this Government’s shameful complacency and inaction. Tata Steel has announced the loss of 1,050 jobs this year alone, and there are worrying signs that the entire industry in the UK is hanging by a thread.

This is a vital foundation industry for the UK which, after all, was the world’s first industrial nation. Our steel communities are looking to Parliament to support them in their hour of need and we must not let them down. Steel production is worth £9.5 billion to our economy, £5 billion of that in exports, at a time when we have a deteriorating trade deficit.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

The hon. Lady speaks of this time of need. I grew up just a few miles from Port Talbot steelworks and played very poor rugby as a scrum half at a school close by. At this time, is it not better that all parties work together for the good of the British steel industry, rather than making party political points, when it is pretty obvious that the steel industry globally has changed not only in the past year, but over the past two decades?

[Ms Eagle]

I will be the first to work with Government Members, and I hope that by the time we have listened to the Business Secretary’s reply we will have something that we can all cheer.

The British Chambers of Commerce recently found that export growth continued to slow at the end of 2015, with manufacturers struggling in particular. In the words of a former Conservative Trade Minister, the Government’s own export target is “a big stretch”. The Government have obviously been asleep at the wheel. Ahead of the Budget next month, the Government must acknowledge that on their watch domestic structural weaknesses in the UK economy have been allowed to persist and that they are now in danger of holding Britain back.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Eagle]

The Government should certainly be leaving no stone unturned in encouraging UK steel to tender for any contract, especially as they boast about changing the procurement rules—in my experience, one has to do a lot more than that to make a real difference.

[Mark Pritchard]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

Okay, but just because I am intrigued by the hon. Gentleman’s rugby-playing days.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mark Pritchard]

I thank the hon. Lady, who is being generous in giving way—I believe in mixed rugby teams, so she is welcome on the pitch anytime. It so happens that 26 British companies were asked to tender for the offshore patrol vessels to which the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon) referred, but only one did, so only 20% of the steel for those vessels will be British. Surely she agrees that it is not for the Government, or indeed for the Opposition, to promote and market individual steel companies, whether British or not; it is for those companies to market themselves, and it is for the Government to set the framework in which they can do the business.

[Ms Eagle]

I am just getting the idea of a mixed rugby team out of my mind so that I can address the hon. Gentleman’s point. I think that it rather makes the point that the Government need to do more than just change technical criteria. They need to take a root-and-branch look at what is actually happening in our steel industry, and an industrial strategy would assist them in doing that. We need to do what we can to ensure that any blockages are removed so that we can give our steel communities the best chance to take maximum advantage of the procurement opportunities available in this country.