Mr Javid is calling for an emergency European Union to tackle unfair trade practices.
Advertisement
“Other member states are already acting on their own individual basis, interpreting European Union law in a way that best serves their industry”.
He was holding talks with trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, internal market commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska and vice-president Jyrki Katainen.
The fact is that most of us in the business community are now watching the Government’s reaction to the United Kingdom steel crisis very carefully – we have a new Government and a new Business Secretary and this crisis is a good test of how much support UK PLC might expect to see from both going forward.
“We can not stand by while the steel industry across Europe, not just in the United Kingdom, faces such unprecedented challenges”.
The United Kingdom pushed for transitional arrangements and derogations in the IED, and both will benefit the steel industry following detailed work between government and steel companies.
Thousands of job cuts have been announced in the past month by Tata Steel in Scunthorpe and Scotland, the collapse of SSI United Kingdom in Redcar in Teesside, as well as the administration of Midlands-based Caparo Industries. “The Government needs to demonstrate that it has heard the steelworkers and employers’ concerns and that it understands the urgency of the situation”.
Kevin Cook, who has worked for 39 years at the SSI plant in Redcar, which is closing with the loss of more than 2,000 jobs, said workers were still “shell shocked” by recent events.
Other issues included reducing high energy costs and business rates, tackling unfair trade, and having more local content in orders.
It has emerged that unions have not yet been invited to participate in three industry working groups, established after a steel summit earlier in October.
Steel plants in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot will now be given until the middle of 2019 to meet the requirements, known as the Industrial Emissions Directive, staving off further expenditure for an industry squeezed by falling global steel prices. In 2015 Chinese steel exports were estimated to be in excess of 110m tonnes and this has driven prices down to what are clearly unsustainable levels unless global capacity is sharply reduced.
It is one of a series of measures promised by government which are vital to maintain a viable future for the steel industry in the UK.
The plan has been submitted to the European Commission for approval.
Giving evidence to the Business Select Committee, he outlined the ongoing threats to the industry.
Advertisement
“We are bleeding very quickly and unless it’s stopped very soon we are likely to die”, UK Steel director Gareth Stace was quoted as saying by The Financial Times in an address to the parliamentary select committee on Tuesday.
