Lord Jones
Main Page: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Jones's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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Lord Stockwood (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for the advanced sight of his follow-up question; I also commend the forensic, technical nature of the Question. The trade measure to which he refers covers 20 categories of steel, including all steel that is made in the UK. That includes bright bar, wire and stainless steel. Categories that were not covered in the steel safeguard are all now in scope. This means that the measure protects 100% of steel production domestically in the UK, whereas the steel safeguard protected only 96%. We engaged extensively with industry when developing this measure, and have sought to balance the need to protect the domestic steel-making industry while maintaining secure, reliable supply chains for downstream businesses. We will continue to engage closely with industry as we implement the measure, and we have committed to reviewing it in the next 12 months to ensure that it is entirely fit for purpose.
Lord Jones (Lab)
My Lord, can my noble friend the Minister indicate what further helpful measures there may be for this beleaguered industry in terms of energy costs? Green taxes, which are necessary, have dealt severe blows to the long-term prospects for steel, and in Wales we have seen the erosion of tens of thousands of steel jobs. I also ask him to bear in mind that rail connections between steel producers are crucial: the giant steel plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, for instance, sends a daily steel train 150 miles to north-east Wales’s Shotton works. On that train, which is 26 huge wagons long, is hot-rolled coil. If the hot-rolled coil does not reach Shotton, there will be problems. I hope that he will bear that in mind.
Lord Stockwood (Lab)
On energy prices, the transition to green energy is absolutely critical for the sector. We remain as committed as always to sovereign energy supplies that can withstand the global shocks we are seeing through Iran and the war in Ukraine. We have that commitment and the only way we can bring down energy prices is with secure domestic supply. The noble Lord made a further point around the steel strategy in Wales. I refer him to the steel strategy; it is important that our steel industry is protected in the whole of the UK. The infrastructure he mentioned remains critical to ensuring that our steel industry can be competitive in the long term.