Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made the potential impact of the proposed steel trade measure on the adequacy of the range and supply of products that are not currently domestically manufactured; and what steps he is taking to support domestic firms currently reliant on imported steel products or components.

The measure has been designed to strike the right balance between securing the future of domestic steelmaking while maintaining secure supply chains for downstream users. The measure only covers steel requirements that can be met in the UK. In some instances, this is not feasible for technical reasons. Where this is the case, quotas have been designed to allow for sufficient imports to ensure these goods continue to be available to UK downstream users without unnecessary additional costs.

The Government has engaged extensively with manufacturers and wider industry to inform the design of the new steel trade measure, including through ongoing discussions and a Call for Evidence in 2025. We will keep the measure under review, including a review after twelve months to ensure it remains effective and fit for purpose.

To ease short term impacts, we will introduce a transitional arrangement under which the new measure would not apply to goods agreed under contract before 14 March 2026 and imported between 1 July and 30 September 2026.

The Steel Strategy aims to create a more competitive landscape for steel production in the UK, to enable companies to use more domestic content and reduce their dependency on imports.