Category 4 Steel Imports: Tariff-free Quotas

Lord Hannan of Kingsclere Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I remember our exchanges across the Dispatch Box. As I said then, I will say now that we are mindful of the specialised steel used in any of the industries that require a speciality type of steel. We will monitor the usage but, as it stands, any steel that is not manufactured in this country—which is imported—is outside the scope of the tariff.

[Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his answers. He is always informative, courteous and diligent at that Dispatch Box. If it is true that we have, as reported, widened the quota for India, we have presumably done so on two very sensible grounds. The first is good relations with India. This is a really important trade deal, and we can hardly renege on it when the ink is barely dry. The second is that we want to boost our domestic economy and, as the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, says, we do not want to place British manufacturers at a relative disadvantage vis-à-vis the rest of the world by forcing up their input costs. Why does that apply only to India? Should we not take the same approach to our trading partners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the GCC, the European Union and elsewhere? Of course, the real answer is to cut energy costs but, until we get there, it does seem crazy that we are going down this Trumpian route of having these immensely high tariffs, which always serve to the detriment of the industries they are supposed to protect.

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for those kind words. We do not import steel only from India. In fact, the largest import of steel is actually from the EU, followed very closely by Vietnam, then India, and not forgetting South Korea. Those are the principal importers of steel into this country. As I said earlier, we have not changed the quotas as far as India is concerned. We continue to engage regularly with India and with Tata, which is owned by an Indian company, on the usage of steel in this country.