Steel Industry

Lord Brookman Excerpts

Tuesday 25th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brookman (Lab)]

My Lords, I was a steel-worker from Ebbw Vale in south Wales. My first Member of Parliament was Aneurin Bevan. Growing up as a young kid, I listened to him in the Palace cinema. He was a wonderful man. The works is no longer there. Many people became unemployed, including many of my relatives, so I know a little bit about the difficulties that steel-workers have had in the United Kingdom. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Jones, for his comments about our relationship during my stewardship of the then named Iron and Steel Trades Confederation.

The Question in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, is relevant. What will be the future of steel? What will be its role in relation to the industrial strategy that we will consider in due course, whoever forms the next Government? I recall a debate in this House on the future of the steel industry. That debate in June 2003 lasted three and a half hours. Therefore, it was much longer than today’s debate and many more noble Lords were present to listen to what was said. It was an interesting debate on the future of steel and manufacturing in general. Some people—not people I can name publicly—believe that we were, and are, living in a post-industrial society, and that steel is not a key issue for the British Government of the day. I am not reading from notes but saying what I feel about the future of steel and manufacturing in general.

The Steel 2020 report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Steel and Metal Related Industries has been referred to. I was impressed by that first-class report, which was researched and drawn up by Dr Ian Greenwood. It would be worth the while of everyone who is interested in the future of manufacturing and the steel industry to read it carefully. Dr Ian Greenwood’s work is first class and I am proud to be associated with the all-party group’s efforts to support the steel industry. A group of MPs associated with the APPG—Tom Blenkinsop from Middlesbrough, Jessica Morden, Tom Pursglove, Anna Turley, Angela Smith and Stephen Kinnock—are working night and day to try to ensure that we have a powerful, strong steel industry to support manufacturing.

The facts are pretty clear, and the previous speaker mentioned some of them. The UK steel industry directly employed 320,000 people in 1971, compared with 21,000 in 2015. The report that I referred to points out that the figure is now about 18,000. So let us be honest with ourselves. Are we, and have we been, fighting a losing battle? Are the British people concerned, as noble Lords this evening seem to have been, about the future of the steel industry and manufacturing? I have my reservations about the views of some people on the future of the steel industry, but I am very pleased with my own union. Roy Rickhuss, the current general secretary, has been very active and effective, as have his key officials such as John Paul McHugh, the union’s assistant general secretary. They are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that we in this country have a strong, workable steel industry for the future.

It is some years since I instigated a debate on this matter and I should be interested to hear the view on the position today. In that debate, strongly represented by people from this House, everybody said that we did not have a successful arrangement with the Government of the day for a powerful industrial base, including a strong steel industry. That is central to what we are talking about tonight and it will be in the future. That is why my noble friend’s opening remarks were so relevant. We need to understand clearly what the Government will do to support the very thing that many noble Lords have spoken about today—a strong, competitive steel industry that can hold its head up high in world business.