Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

Baroness Redfern Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Redfern (Con)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for allowing me to speak in the gap. I congratulate the Minister on his appointment and his opening statement.

As negotiations to resolve are still being discussed, the Bill will not immediately nationalise until the public ownership test is met. But years of underinvestment in our steel industry has resulted in it being neglected, and uncertainty lingers for many skilled Scunthorpe steelworkers and those employed in the supply chain.

Only last April, the House was recalled for emergency state intervention. At the same time, we witnessed a cliff-edge shortage when the Chinese owners halted new orders for coking coal and iron pellets, causing a critical threat that the last blast furnaces would go cold. Since then, it has cost the Government over £1.3 million a day to keep the furnaces running.

To sustain steel-making in Scunthorpe in the future, there will be a transition to two new electric arc furnaces, but that will take several years due to limited preparation and the need for a secure grid connection. The question posed is: how will the Government secure stability for the plant in the short to medium term? Our steel having to compete on an unlevel playing field due to our having the highest energy costs in Europe is one of the greatest barriers to competitiveness and viability for future investment. These costs must be reduced. In their ongoing support of the steel business, the Government must ensure that Bess and Anne are part of that transition. They are proud Scunthorpe queens of virgin steel. They are hungry to keep burning and cannot be left to run cold—as they nearly were last April—and they need further investment now.

There are initial concerns surrounding the scale of the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism while we are still importing nearly 70% of our steel requirements. This too must be reduced for procurement, and we must look at how future UK contracts are managed. We must not, and cannot, be the only G7 nation without the ability to make primary virgin steel. We must not forget that, from defence to renewable energy, steel provides vital material for our national infrastructure and for economic growth, and that it supports our highly skilled specialist workers, who work in the production of our own steel-making.

As the Government put forward this proposal to nationalise a steel company in the short term, they can make their own decisions and, in future, may have the opportunity to include new investors or owners. Above all, our steel sector needs certainty for our dedicated workforce and contractors and for future investments in our industry stretching across the country. For our prosperity, the future has to be “UK steel first”.