Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

Lord Wigley Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, very briefly in the gap, I flag up my support, and that of Plaid Cymru, for the Bill’s general objectives, although we have reservations on some of the detail, which I hope I can pursue at later stages. I also wish the Minister well in his new duties.

Before entering Parliament, I worked for two major steel-using companies: the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham, and Hoover washing machines at Merthyr Tydfil. Steel was a basic ingredient of both products. When I started working, steel employed over 100,000 workers in Wales. The danger then was of such manufacturing processes becoming vulnerable to new techniques or being undercut by overseas manufacturers. Modernisation was essential. The third quarter of the 20th century saw the nationalisation, denationalisation, renationalisation, and then in the 1980s the privatisation, of steel—hardly conducive to attracting the investment needed to modernise that industry.

At that time, as now, steel had strategic importance in defence policy. Surely that is the real backdrop to this Bill. I accept that, for defence purposes, the UK requires a steel industry that is not vulnerable to commercial or strategic decisions taken by overseas industrialists or Governments, or the whims of financial markets. If steel has that level of strategic importance, all the eggs should not be in one basket. We need at least two or three centres where the capacity, technology and skills are available and not vulnerable to being undermined by physical or cyber attacks.

It is in that context that I view the Bill before us. I have in mind the implications for iron and steel manufacture at Port Talbot. The main reservations Plaid Cymru has about the Bill is whether its powers will be used to safeguard the steel industry in Wales. There is widespread belief that the steel industry at Port Talbot has not been treated on an equal basis with that at Scunthorpe. We do not claim that Port Talbot should have preferential treatment, but neither should Scunthorpe. Both are needed, and both should be developed in a manner that avoids strategic, economic or defence needs being limited to one location. That would be nothing less than strategic myopia and a blunder of monumental dimensions. So the assurance I seek is that the Bill is not the prelude to building up Scunthorpe at the expense of Port Talbot. I will seek to clarify whether the public interest test applies equally to Port Talbot and Scunthorpe, and whether equivalent resources will be available to both Port Talbot and Scunthorpe. Both plants need to be as effective, productive and resilient as each other.

While Port Talbot is the major plant in Wales, other steel locations such as Shotton and Llanwern should be developed appropriately. A diversity of capacity, technology and experience is needed to ensure a steel industry that responds to commercial and strategic needs. At later stages, we may also want to probe how “public interest” is defined. Defence and strategic considerations are clearly within such a definition, but the public interest may extend much further, as the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, implied in his comments a few moments ago. There must also be a provision requiring the UK Government to work closely with devolved Governments in implementing the Bill. I shall be grateful for whatever assurances the Minister can give me, and I look forward to his response.