Industry minister Anna Soubry said on Wednesday: “Nobody should ever dare to suggest that anybody on the Government benches has taken any pleasure, happiness or anything else in the unfortunate demise we have seen over recent times of a large part of our steel industry”.
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Times change and the economy of the United Kingdom has shifted from heavy industry to the service sector with the City of London one of the world’s foremost financial hubs.
That compensation package is still awaiting State Aid approval from the European Commission and Business Secretary Sajid Javid said he will press the Commission on the issue when he visits Brussels tomorrow. Javid is expected to present a number of protectionist measures to combat “unfair trade practices” which includes the dumping of cheap steel by China.
“People are feeling very down at the moment and we need the Government to realise this is a foundation industry which should be saved”.
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.
This decision comes after unnecessary “gold-plating” of European Union regulations was named as one of the top five issues raised with the government by the steel industry.
With a low selling price and high costs, the gap between what the United Kingdom can afford to sell steel at and the market price is growing wider.
The worldwide Steel Trade Association (Ista) said scores of medium sized firms were at risk if the crisis gripping the industry escalates. We assess that that is not an easy task.
The Government has been under fierce political pressure to act, as Britain’s steel sector has shed thousands of jobs in recent weeks, which is set to devastate entire communities.
As steelworkers marched on parliament today to demand action, Unite general secretary Tony Burke said it was dealing with the symptoms rather than the causes of the current crisis. Following his speech, Scottish Labour MSP James Kelly urged the Scottish government to consider nationalising the country’s remaining steel operations.
“Nothing should be off the table for Scottish steel”. The SNP government stepped in to take Prestwick Airport into public hands.
The First Minister met workers and management at Dalzell in Motherwell and Clydebridge in Cambuslang, near Glasgow, yesterday.
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Mr Pentlands said he welcomes the creation of the Scottish Steel Task Force but added: ” We should not allow it to become a talking shop; and we should be wary of those whose first response is to dampen expectations of what can be achieved. “We are bleeding very quickly and unless it’s stopped very soon we are likely to die”.
