Frank Roy
Main Page: Frank Roy (Labour - Motherwell and Wishaw)(12 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)
I will not go through all the arguments that have been made in relation to Thamesteel, but the Government need to prove that they are listening to hon. Members and to the workers of Thamesteel.
Steelworkers are part of an industry that is like no other—it can be dangerous and it can be temperamental. It is dusty. It can involve heavy lifting. As I remember only too well, it can be fatal on occasion. Most steelworkers in the modern 21st century do not have university degrees. What we say is that they are graduates of the university of life—the life of a steelworks. Being a steelworker means having a skill like no other, whether working in an ore blending plant, a sinter plant, the coke ovens, the heat of a blast furnace, the basic oxygen steelwork, a degassing unit or a continuous casting mill of strip, slab and plate. Those skills are not learnt by reading a book; they are learnt at the chalk face. The men in this room who are watching the debate should remain part of that chalk face.
In Scotland, there are currently two plants: Dalzell steel plant in my constituency, and Clydebridge in Cambuslang. Those companies have just put in a bid to rebuild the new Forth road bridge—35,000 tonnes of steel. What did they get? Not an ounce. Not one ounce. Some 90% of the old bridge was built by Scottish steel. Not an ounce of UK steel. Not an ounce made in Scunthorpe. Not an ounce rolled in Clydebridge or Dalzell. Nearly 30,000 tonnes of steel will be shipped 12,600 miles from Shanghai, instead of being driven 34 miles along the M8 from Motherwell to the Forth. What a disgrace! What a way to treat a modern industry!
Steel has a very proud history, but it has a very bright future. It is a material that will be used in the future. It will be used for wind farms and offshore farms—all that will be made from steel. Unfortunately, unless the steel industry is helped and unless the Government listen, an awful lot of that steel will come from abroad.
Finally, I started by talking about Thamesteel; I would now like to talk about my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop), who gave a passionate speech. Quite frankly, as someone who was a steelworker for 15 years, I could not have put it any better, and I congratulate my hon. Friend. I wish the workers of Thamesteel well. I hope that the Government are listening to their argument.
