UK Steel Industry
Debate between Kevin Foster and Hannah Bardell
Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)
How do you follow that? What I would say is that in describing as a “dinosaur” something that would be Britain’s biggest single construction project and would create 25,000 jobs west of Bristol, it comes as no surprise to me that one party is in danger of becoming extinct in the whole of the south-west peninsula.
Why have I, as the MP for Torbay, which has no direct steel links, come along to this debate? It is because the issues raised in this debate impact on us all. I look at some of the firms starting to expand around Torquay, exporting high-tech, high-quality manufactured products, and realise that if China started to move into those markets as it modernises its economy, we could be debating those types of products in a few years’ time and seeing what China might do.
I am interested in the impacts of what we are talking about on the ground. Some concepts can sound rather odd—the idea of a “lesser duty rule”, for example, and the impact it might or might not have in this area. There is a debate to be had about how the European Union can modernise some of its trade defence practices, so that where issues such as this come up, they can be responded to more quickly.
Given the numbers provided by the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), it is clear why it is so important that we work as part of 28 states. In view of the sheer scale of China and what it is doing, if we were trying to operate as 28 separate individual states, we would face the danger of each of us being picked off individually, as happened in the 1930s. That would be most worrying for us. It will therefore come as no great surprise to hear that I am one of the remain voters among Conservative Members, and I view it as absolutely right to bring a united front to this issue. We should bear it in mind, however, that not so long ago the European Union was busy dumping surplus agricultural products into the markets of, for instance, African countries. When we request other countries not to dump into our markets, we must also ensure that we in the European Union practise what we preach, and do not inflict on other countries what we are complaining about in relation to some of our own industries. I accept that the lesser duty rule is not making a direct impact in this instance. I am talking about the principle of how the correct tariffs are created and decided, on the basis of advice from industry.
The Government should also think about the way in which our procurement works. I was interested by the response to my intervention on the speech of the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows), but I think it is worth pointing out that from the decks of the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers in Rosyth, 94% of which were constructed with British steel, it is possible to see a major construction project that is being built with steel from elsewhere in the world.
Hannah Bardell
At the beginning of the hon. Gentleman’s speech, he asked what he was doing here. Perhaps his purpose was to be the proponent of misinformation. I can confirm to him that during the procurement process to secure fabricated steel for the new Forth crossing, no company from Scotland, or from the United Kingdom as a whole, made a bid for the contract. A further subcontract for steel fabrication was awarded to Cleveland Bridge in Darlington, and raw steel was supplied by Tata in both Scunthorpe and Motherwell. I hope that that clarifies the position, and that the hon. Gentleman now stands corrected.
Kevin Foster
It was interesting to hear those comments, which sounded very similar to the comments from the Government that the hon. Lady has been attacking.