He will also push for steel to be at the top of the agenda at the next European Union trade council meeting.
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The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said today it was planning to change the way it implements the Industrial Emission Directive (IED) from January 2016, in order to allow a number of steel plants to be granted a four a half year exemption to meeting stricter pollution standards.
“Time is rapidly running out and the steel industry needs assurances from Government that it is going to deliver on its promises”.
Ministers insist that the “nuclear option” of protectionist measures to combat the dumping of cheap steel by China should be considered as a potential way to protect European producers.
Shortly after the MPs started the session, the Business Department issued a statement saying the steel industry will be able to take advantage of “special flexibilities” to comply with new European Union rules on emissions.
The jobs of those 900 people in Scunthorpe and 300 in Scotland have said to have been lost as a result of the accessibility the industry has to cheaper imports from the likes of China.
“The approach by ministers so far has been to deal with the symptoms of the steel crisis, when what steel and manufacturing communities want is action that secures United Kingdom steelmaking and secures their futures”. He has also spoken to the competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, about speeding up approval of the government’s scheme to compensate energy intensive industries.
During her visit, Sturgeon and Tata agreed the firm will work with the Scottish Government’s taskforce to find a new commercial operator that could ensure the jobs are retained. “We are aware that this task is not an easy one and there are significant challenges facing the continued production of steel in Scotland”.
“I can confirm that payment will be made immediately and that payment will be made throughout this Parliament”.
A request by the Scottish government to attend European Union steel talks in Brussels has been rejected by the United Kingdom government.
Speaking ahead of the first meeting of the Scottish Steel Task Force on Thursday, October 29, at 10am, the Motherwell and Wishaw representative is calling for it to adopt a positive attitude to saving Dalzell and Clydebridge, Cambuslang. The SNP government stepped in to take Prestwick Airport into public hands. “Anything less would be unacceptable”, he added.
Mr Javid’s call for action comes after thousands of job losses were announced across the industry on the back of the collapse of SSI in Redcar and cutbacks at Tata Steel in North Lincolnshire and Lanarkshire.
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Stace told MPs: ‘If we were a patient on an operating table, we are bleeding very quickly.
