Government Contracts: Steel Industry

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Thursday 25th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

Let us wait and see. These investigations are obviously under way as we speak.

[Lord Berkeley (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government recently announced that the Chinese were going to invest in Hinkley Point power station. Will a condition of that be that Chinese steel and other products are used in its construction?

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

That is a very good point, my Lords. Responsibility for the construction of Hinkley Point C rests with EDF rather than the Government. The project will require hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel and EDF has made it clear that it expects a large proportion of that to come from UK companies. The construction and operation of Hinkley are expected to create 25,000 employment opportunities and aim to create 1,000 apprenticeships.