Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Melanie Onn Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

I am delighted to follow the right hon. Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh). Given his Damascene conversion to socialism today, he could be termed the new “Red Ed”.

I welcome the Government’s decisive action to bring security for workers at Scunthorpe. They are grasping the nettle after the can has been kicked down the road for far too long. British Steel at Scunthorpe is not just of interest to that town; its importance emanates across northern Lincolnshire to my constituents in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes. Whether directly or indirectly, the employment and training opportunities that come from that single site are so important to our local economy, and the product is, of course, nationally important. When I consider the businesses that operate across the Humber and northern Lincolnshire, I think the industries that are relevant to securing the future of steel seem strong. From the Siemens factory in Goole to the boatyards of Hull and the turbines off the Cleethorpes coast, the products that Scunthorpe could have a role in producing are plain for us all to see.

The Government must turn their attention to the next steps, because the measures we are taking today are not without risk. Unless we set a course for steel in the UK that closely aligns with our industrial strategy, this will be only another sticking plaster for a site that has already been put through the wringer too many times over the years. The powers that the Government seek today will protect the workers at British Steel from any retaliatory measures that Jingye may have sought to take. That is welcomed by those workers, who have often felt at the mercy of the company’s owners and unseen by the Government.

[Luke Akehurst (North Durham) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one major way in which we could secure markets for British steel is through the “British first” strategy that the Ministry of Defence has set out for the building of future warships?

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[Mr Speaker]

Okay, can people please not take or text photographs? I do not know if that is the case here, but your name has just been associated with it.

[Melanie Onn]

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst); it is imperative that we tie up all the initiatives that this Government are bringing forward, whether in defence or other critical areas of industry, to make sure we can secure the long-term future of steel.

To ensure the best chance of successfully securing a private partner or long-term commercial solution, the Government must take all actions available within their powers and do all they can to make British Steel viable. I wonder whether now is perhaps the time for the Government to look again at the carbon border adjustment mechanism. The EU has already brought in the adjustment mechanism to protect against international steel dumping. By doing all we can—whether by keeping down energy costs, as I know the Minister has sought to do, investing through the national wealth fund or, indeed, bringing in the CBAM—this is our chance to secure a genuine, long-term solution for the preservation of British Steel.