UK Steel Strategy

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I have not yet had the opportunity to welcome the self-appointed shadow shadow—or, as I say, shadowy—Secretary of State to his position. Despite the investment and the protections we are putting in, and despite the modernisations, which he recognises are all good, his point seems to be that it is not quite visionary enough. However, he is not able to point to a vision for a more comprehensive future for the steel industry. He also seems to think that electric arc furnaces are woke. Let me say that there is nothing woke about an electric arc furnace, which, when rolled out in the transition, will make us a market leader globally, which is what the industry itself—the British domestic suppliers and those who are demanding that steel is required into the future—is calling for. I can assure him that we are on the side of the industry and its vision. We are matching its ambition and its potential for the future. He wants to cast us back into the past.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney) (Lab)]

May I say how proud I am that my birth certificate says, “Father’s occupation: labourer in the steelworks”? This strategy is a shot in the arm for steelmakers across the UK; it is in stark contrast to the failures of the last Tory Governments. But can the Secretary of State say more about the infrastructure projects and plans to refine the public procurement notice for steel? What will that mean in practice for jobs in our communities?

[Peter Kyle]

In the many years I have observed my hon. Friend contributing to these debates, he has always been thoughtful and powerfully on the side of the steel sector. I can reassure him that the Government are investing in infrastructure on an unprecedented peacetime scale. The new runways and the 1.5 million homes that will be built as a result of this Government, and the building out between Oxford and Cambridge, to name a few, will all require enormous amounts of steel. This Government’s policy is to increase the supply of domestic steel from 30% to 50% of the requirement. We will use all the powers we have in policy and incentives to ensure that British steel producers benefit from all these opportunities.