Steel Industry

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, I would love to support the Government wholeheartedly on this Bill. From wind turbines to trains, steel will be needed for the transition to a green economy. However, this Bill contains huge powers for the Secretary of State and no sunset clauses. That is always going to be a source of problems.

I am worried that this is the same old story of taxpayer money paying for private profits and private sector failure. We have seen it with the water industry, where bill payers are taking the hit for billions of pounds in share dividend payments, and a third of my own water bill goes on paying debt. We saw it with the steel mill in Port Talbot, which was a missed opportunity that still grieves many people in Wales. We saw it with the collapse of Carillion, the private sector company that existed on public sector contracts. It paid out higher and higher dividends for 16 years. The owners fleeced it and left the pension fund half a billion pounds short—and, of course, cost the taxpayer £148 million.

Instead of the Government doing the obvious thing and taking over these failing companies, they should be bringing them into public ownership so that we can run them better and bring down bills. We keep throwing bill payers’ money at them and expecting a different result. No Government should allow key infrastructure to fall into foreign private investors’ hands in the first place; the minute it is not profitable, they pull out, with no recourse.

I have a few questions for the Minister. What is the Government’s model for ownership? If we put £500 million into keeping this plant going, what are we getting back? Are we getting shares in the company? Are we getting worker representatives put on to the board? Are we getting guarantees that the steel plant will be handed over to the public sector?

The Minister said in her opening remarks that all options are under review, yet one constantly gets the feeling that, for this Labour Government, nationalisation is something that spooks them quite badly. I would like to know if nationalisation is one of the options under review.

What is the timetable for shifting the Scunthorpe blast furnaces from coal to green hydrogen? We have an increasing number of days when our wind farms and solar panels are producing more renewable energy than the national grid needs. Instead of closing things down on those days—when renewables cost us nothing—why do we not use that free energy to produce hydrogen?

We must not leave the future of steel communities and steel-workers to the whims of multinational companies or bullies in the White House. These communities deserve better. Green steel in public ownership is the way to ensure that these communities not only survive but thrive into the future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I apologise to the noble Lord—he was speaking more quickly than I can write. I will endeavour to respond to the points that I have not been able to respond to so far.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

Before the Minister sits down again, I made a specific point about whether nationalisation was one of the options on the table under review.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I make it clear that nothing is off the table. All options will be considered. I have also made it clear that this Bill is not about nationalising steel. If we need to take any further steps, we will obviously have to come back to the House with further proposals.