The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Calculation of CBAM Rate and Determination of Carbon Price Relief) Regulations 2026

John Cooper Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2026 General Committees

[John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. His Majesty’s loyal Opposition will oppose this legislation, but not because of the detail we have heard today, complex though it is, and which has been a long time coming, emerging inch by painful inch. Rather, we oppose this legislation in the round. The Conservatives’ intention is to scrap the carbon border adjustment mechanism as well as the emissions trading scheme. Committing to fully scrapping the carbon tax regime, the Leader of the Opposition said that it was “madness” to pursue the goal of preserving the environment by

“killing British industry and fatally weakening our national resilience.”

We are not alone. Many industry voices agree. Steel is one of the sectors most affected by CBAM. Frank Aaskov, the director of climate change policy at UK Steel, has said:

“The UK Government is knowingly driving towards deindustrialisation with its carbon border policy, while ignoring repeated, evidence-based warnings from industry.

As currently structured, the policy will favour overseas competitors over domestic steel producers, undermining investment decisions being taken now on decarbonisation.”

The Government’s ruinously expensive steel strategy—apparently keeping blast furnaces alight with bundles of taxpayers’ £20 notes—is in meltdown. CBAM is another hammer blow for this foundational industry, as with cement, chemicals and aluminium. Reindustrialisation is simply not possible while this Government inflict punitive energy costs on business and pursue a net zero agenda that is more concerned with green dogma than real-world practicality.

There is much talk from Government about food security being national security, but our pivotal agricultural industry is alarmed by CBAM and, as we have heard, by its impact on fertiliser. The umbrella body, the Agricultural Industries Confederation, warns that the fertiliser market operates across highly integrated European supply chains. The current lack of clarity risks creating unnecessary administrative burdens, pricing uncertainty and potential distortions between UK, EU and third-country suppliers. Industry estimates show that CBAM could add between £70 and £100 a tonne to the cost of fertiliser. That is a huge additional burden on an industry in which margins are already tight.

[John Lamont]

The shadow Minister’s excellent speech is making it very clear why farmers and other part of industry are concerned about the regulations. In response to my earlier intervention, the Minister said that he would be telling farmers the rates “very shortly”. Frankly, that is not good enough. Does the shadow Minister agree that farmers need that certainty now? They might not be able to get a definitive figure, but they need to know the date by which the rate will be announced.

[John Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. All businesses need certainty, and farmers are no different. They need to buy things in advance, so they need to know how much things will cost. It is about going back to the foundations. The additional cost of fertiliser is likely to link directly to higher food prices, which will affect all our constituents in a cost of living crisis.

What will be the impact of the measure on businesses? The explanatory memorandum to the regulations says that CBAM

“will have a significant impact on...10,000 businesses importing CBAM goods into the UK.”

As with every regulation, small businesses will face higher administrative costs relative to their turnover. However, the Government have not published a new impact assessment alongside the instrument. Could the Minister tell us why not? How can the Government claim that the tax information and impact note from November 2025 remains accurate, when we all know how much more precarious the situation for business is now than it was a year ago? Across industry and businesses big and small, warning lights are flashing on dashboards.

CBAM is a wrong-headed attempt at a solution to the failures of the carbon tax. The solution cannot be to add yet more burdens on Britain’s businesses to try to balance out the damage already done. The solution is to tackle the problem at source: to axe the carbon tax entirely, and the emissions trading scheme and CBAM with it, and to end the deindustrialisation of our country. This is the time to drive industry forward, not to hamstring it with additional costs that are deleterious and damaging to its very survival. The Government should think again.