UK Steel Industry

Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent Excerpts

Monday 29th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

Again, I agree. In this moment, we all have to do the most we can to preserve a future for the UK steel industry.

Our motion calls on the Government to take tougher action to secure a level playing field for our industry by working in partnership with our European neighbours. As part of the largest economic bloc in the world, Britain is in a much stronger position to stand up to those who refuse to play by the rules of the game, damaging our future economic prosperity and putting at risk the jobs and livelihoods of families in our close-knit steel communities. We need a Government who are willing to make that case by standing up to China.

[Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the issue affects not only the steel industry but ceramics? It will cost more than 2,500 jobs in my constituency, unless we send a clear message, as the Minister has said, that China does not meet the criteria for market economy status?

[Ms Eagle]

I am coming to that later in my remarks, but my hon. Friend is exactly right: all energy-intensive industries are affected, and ceramics is one of them.

If they are accurate, I welcome the media reports from today’s European Union Competitiveness Council, which appears to have agreed that the Commission should accelerate anti-dumping action. I look forward to much more detail from the Secretary of State when he responds to the debate on what that will mean in practice. Until then, we must judge the Government on their actions to date.

Our motion calls on the Government to stop blocking reform of EU trade defence instruments, which would enable defensive tariffs to be imposed much more quickly and at a level that would actually prevent imports of unfairly traded steel products from China. The Government should support the scrapping of the lesser duty rule, which is preventing tariffs from being set at a level that will actually deal with the problem. After months of agitation and a massive increase in Chinese imports, especially to the UK, the European Union has finally set its tariff on a particular product—Chinese rebar—between 9.2% and 13%. Meanwhile, the USA has introduced defensive tariffs of 66%, and they were operating 45 days after the start of its investigation. To work, tariffs have to be high enough to deal with the problem—the EU tariffs are not.

It is important to make it crystal clear that we are objecting to blatant and unfair dumping, not to free trade, which the Opposition support.