Steel Tariffs
Debate between Chris McDonald and Sureena Brackenridge(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Chris McDonald
As I mentioned to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), the Chair of the Select Committee, I am sympathetic about the uncertainty. It is a difficult position for businesses to be in. To be clear, the reason for the uncertainty is that the publication of the final measures is dependent on market access negotiations with the European Union. It is to be expected that the negotiations with the European Union will go very close to the deadline.
Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
UK steel sector voices and Cabinet officials met to back procurement of British-made steel at Tata Steelpark in Wednesfield, rather than in offices in Whitehall, which I welcome. I also met Walsall Wheelbarrow, a family-owned business started by Fred Thacker in 1939. It is the only UK manufacturer of wheelbarrows left in the UK. Will the Minister look at ensuring that imported steel that cannot be made in the UK remains tariff-free?
Chris McDonald
The design of the steel measures, because of the different steel grades, means that the combined nomenclature codes fall into large buckets, so although the Government have targeted the measures at steels that are or could be made in the UK, some that are not or could not be made in the UK end up being caught up in the measures. That is the point of the quotas. It is important that we ensure that those quotas are in the right place, including for businesses such as Walsall Wheelbarrows. I have slightly lost count of the number of wheelbarrows that I have, but I will be sure that the next one I buy is from Walsall.
Critical Minerals Strategy
Debate between Chris McDonald and Sureena Brackenridge(8 months ago)
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Chris McDonald
I agree that the security of the nation is very much dependent on the availability of these critical minerals. I hope that when people go to the ballot box, they think about the security of this nation and whether parties such as Reform can be trusted when they have senior people taking bribes from overseas Governments.
Mrs Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
Critical minerals underpin everyday life and are essential from national security to the electronic gadgets we all rely on. Will the Minister say how the critical minerals strategy will ensure that UK businesses benefit while securing resilient supply chains?
Chris McDonald
Clearly the strategy will help UK businesses to benefit, but in my hon. Friend’s constituency, Wolverhampton North East, Recyclus Group is already operating a state-of-the-art plant that makes full use of waterless, low-emission processes to recycle lithium-ion batteries. I am sure we will see many such technologies to make use of end-of-life batteries from electric vehicles.