Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Sarah Jones Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)]

I thank hon. Members on both sides of the House not just for participating in this debate, but for returning to this place in these exceptional circumstances. There seems to be some debate about it, but I think this is the sixth time since the second world war that we have met on a Saturday, and only the second time that the House has been recalled on a Saturday—the other being during the Falklands war.

Before I respond to Members’ comments, I echo the point made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in his opening remarks: this Government will never hesitate to protect our steel industry and the thousands of steel workers in this country who built it. We always said, from the outset of our negotiations with Jingye, that we would keep every option on the table and would act in the national interest to protect jobs. UK-forged steel built our railways, bridges and buildings. It is integral to our economy’s future, just as much as it has been to our rich industrial past. That is why we need to pass this legislation today.

I will try to address as many of the points raised as I can. Members made the argument for British Steel. My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne) pointed out that 95% of Network Rail steel is from British Steel. My right hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) pointed out that TfL would not get anywhere were it not for steel. My hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Chris McDonald), who has such expertise, pointed out that steel is the future and everything we have is made from or with steel.

I can reassure the House that our plan for steel—the £2.5 billion that we committed to in the manifesto—will work to break down the trade barriers that we have on steel, consider the all new technologies that we can introduce, and look across the whole of the UK to ensure that we protect steel everywhere.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

The Minister speaks about the whole of the United Kingdom. I am very pleased that the Government are acting, literally at pace for once, by stepping in to protect the workers in Scunthorpe, in precisely the opposite way to when they turned a blind eye to the plight of workers at Grangemouth, which is also critical national infrastructure labouring under energy prices. Why is there one rule for industrial production in England and another for industrial production in Scotland?

[Sarah Jones]

In the first 10 weeks after coming to power, this Government negotiated a better deal on Port Talbot and delivered a £200 million commitment to secure the future of Grangemouth. We acted last week on the zero emission vehicle mandate to secure our automotive industry. We are acting today to save the workers of Scunthorpe. The Government believe in direct action—in an active state securing the future of our industry across the UK.

My hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn) raised trade protection issues. I want to reassure her that we will ensure that the right trade protections are in place for our steel industry. Concerns were raised about future decisions about moving towards nationalisation and whether we would come back to this place. I can reassure the House that we will come back to this place if are any further matters relating to ownership or otherwise. We will keep the House updated.

Concerns were raised about the “reasonable excuse” part of the Bill, and examples were requested. The “reasonable excuse” clause could include physical inability, illness or accident, and it is reasonable and measured in this case.

Many hon. Members talked about China. We are focusing on this company today; we are not focusing on the nation of China. The Bill is about what has happened with British Steel and what this Government are going to about British Steel. I would not want this House to believe that the policy of this Government is anything other than a belief in free and fair trade, and that includes with China.

Turning to the sunset clause amendments that have been tabled and the suggestions during the debate that those measures should be included in the Bill, I reiterate what the Secretary of State explained about the risk of a hard backstop reducing our leverage, which was why we did not include a sunset clause. However, we have heard the House’s concerns. I confirm that we will repeal the legislation as quickly as we can and that we will involve the Select Committee. I also make this pledge to the House: we will update the House regularly and the Secretary of State has committed to do so every four working weeks. I hope that that will give the House reassurance.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

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

I welcome the Government’s actions today. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry for all the hard work that she has put in to get us to this place. Does she agree with me that our future industrial strategy must contain an extended section on Government procurement for steel, so that British-produced steel has a fair crack of the whip in the future?

[Sarah Jones]

My hon. Friend is right that procurement has a key role to play in our industrial strategy in steel and beyond. We are working with colleagues in the Cabinet Office to ensure that that is the case. I speak to the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) about these issues regularly, as does the Secretary of State—

[Graham Stuart]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is reported that Jingye management has been turned away by workers and the Humberside police today, so will the Minister tell the House whether the Government’s policy is to bar Jingye management from going on to the premises?

[Mr Speaker]

As the right hon. Member knows, that is great information but not a point of order.

[Sarah Jones]

I will not comment from the Dispatch Box on reports that have been made during the debate. We are actively engaged, minute by minute, on activities in British Steel. If anything, those reports underwrite the need for the powers in the Bill to be introduced on this day. I hope all hon. Members will support the introduction of the legislation and vote for it today.

The hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham suggested that we could have moved faster. I reassure the House that we do not recall the House lightly. We do it because we have a choice today: do we want to deny any possibility of the future of the steelworks at Scunthorpe and do we want to see the closure of the blast furnaces, or do we want to secure a future for those workers and for primary steelmaking in this country?

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

On that point, will the Minister give way?

[Sarah Jones]

I hope my hon. Friend will forgive me, but there is no time for me to give way. I reassure the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham that in no way have we moved slowly—we have been moving at pace throughout our time in government.

There were suggestions that we should move to nationalise British Steel today and that this Bill is already nationalisation. It is not nationalisation and we are not moving to nationalise British Steel today. We are taking very significant powers that we do not underestimate. That buys us time to have the leverage and the time we need to look at what must be done next, but we will act in the national interest. As the Prime Minister said yesterday, nothing is off the table. There was a suggestion that we should use the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. That is difficult to do because it is very hard to meet the criteria; there has to be a risk of death, so we did not meet that criteria.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) that economic security and national security are two sides of the same coin. The emergency legislation we have brought forward today is essential to protect British Steel, its workforce and the national interest. This Government will never hesitate to act in the national interest to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad, and this legislation is proof of that. Today we take back control, and I urge all Members of this House to vote for this Bill.