UK Steel Strategy

David Chadwick Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[David Chadwick (Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe) (LD)]

In 2024, Labour MPs across south Wales stood on a pledge to “save our steel”. They promised £2.5 billion for the steel industry, and they said that they had a plan. They began by saying that they would publish the steel strategy in spring 2025. Then it was autumn 2025, and now finally it arrives in spring 2026. We still do not know how much of that money will be spent in Wales. Will the Secretary of State confirm that to the House today?

In the meantime, British steel production has continued falling, and thousands of jobs have been lost across south Wales since the blast furnaces were turned off. I am not really sure that Labour understands the damage that its party’s failures are having across south Wales. Wales feels abandoned. Steel is in our blood. It is the backbone of our economy. But we are still losing jobs. Skilled workers such as welders are leaving, and tarmac companies are struggling to make asphalt. Consumer spending is falling. People in south Wales are fed up with broken promises. South Wales was promised that the electric arc furnace would be up and running by 2027, but we are now told that it will be 2028. Can the Secretary of State update the House on that deadline?

We need to see so much more urgency. Wales is desperate for the good jobs that the steel industry can provide. There is still—just about, if the Government move quickly—the opportunity to build a home-grown supply chain for the floating offshore wind sector. The Government have told me that they are not expecting to have that sector going until the mid-2030s. That is far too slow. That lackadaisical approach means that the energy that should be created through offshore wind will not be added to the grid until the mid-2030s. The Government must hurry up and deliver on their promises to south Wales.

[Peter Kyle]

The hon. Gentleman mentioned waiting for the steel strategy. The truth is that the steel sector has been waiting 80 years for a steel strategy, and this is the first time that one has been delivered. I think that showing a little bit of gratitude for what has been delivered today, on behalf of the sectors and businesses that he talked about, would be most welcome. I also point out that the 80 years over which there was no strategy included 2010 to 2015, when his party was in government.

Yesterday I was at Tata in Wales. The management, the ownership, the workers and the unions universally welcome this strategy and the £500 million that has already been put in to help transform the industry. That is the example of how we will move forward—with boldness, creativity and urgency.