Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Tom Rutland Excerpts

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)]

Today, we are taking an extraordinary but necessary step not just to safeguard a single industry, but to defend the long-term interests of our country. On that point of interests, I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Let us be clear: today is about not nostalgia, but national resilience and securing Britain’s future. Retaining a sovereign, primary steelmaking capability is critical to our economy and our national security, because steel is the backbone of our infrastructure, defence, energy and transport systems. Without the capacity to make steel from raw materials here in Britain, we are at the mercy of global markets and geopolitical shocks, and we would be outsourcing not just production, but power. Although we are resolute in our commitment to a green industrial future, the transition to clean steel must be a managed and just transition, not a cliff edge. That means keeping the furnaces operating in Scunthorpe as we establish and scale up the electric arc furnaces, because if we lose our primary steelmaking capability, we will not get it back. The skills will be lost, the supply chains broken and we will become entirely dependent on other countries, many of which do not share our environmental or labour standards, or, indeed, our geopolitical outlook.

Let us not forget the people. This is about jobs—good, unionised, skilled jobs that sustain communities, generations of families and the dignity of work. The steelworkers in Scunthorpe are not just making steel; they are making Britain. We owe it to them to ensure that this industry has a future. I pay tribute in particular to the work of Community and GMB unions, which have fought for the future of British steelmaking and British Steel workers.

The Labour party was founded to give working people a voice in Parliament, and, today, as a Government, we are honouring that legacy by standing up for British industry, British workers and Britain’s future. I am proud to support this legislation and I urge all Members to do the same.