British Steel

John Bercow Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Colleagues, I will shortly come to Members with constituency interests, and indeed to the hon. Member for Watford (Richard Harrington), the former Minister, but I would like to begin with a new, young Member who once worked for British Steel. I call Sir Peter Bottomley.

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

That was quite some time ago, Mr Speaker, when it was the British Steel Corporation rather than the old Appleby-Frodingham steel plant that we are discussing today.

I put it to my right hon. Friend that we ought to go on following his non-partisan line, but we ought also to remember what happened to steel production and steel employment during the last Government. Will he also tell us what can be done on energy costs, which form a large part of steel production costs?

Can my right hon. Friend confirm that this is an industry in which the worldwide steel cycle has a massive impact? The House will be grateful to him for doing all that he can to mitigate its effects on this country.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We need to speed up a little bit.

[Mr Simon Clarke (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement, which will be hugely reassuring to my constituents who work at Skinningrove steelworks, most of whom live close by. It is vital that we prevent the closure of that plant, just as it is vital that we prevent closures at Scunthorpe and Lackenby and all the other sites that are affected. With that in mind, I welcome that the Government have provided the indemnity to the official receiver to try to keep British Steel operational while a buyer is sought. Beyond that, may I emphasise the case for public ownership or, indeed, a public-private partnership to serve as a bridge to new ownership? The priority is to save jobs. Everything else—all matters of ideology—must come second.

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[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

We have been here on two or three occasions, including with GKN and Bombardier, so one wonders where we are going, as the steel industry is vital to manufacturing in this country and, more importantly, to the defence industry. I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, but I can tell him that I worked at Rolls-Royce when it collapsed in 1971 and there is no worse situation an employee can find themselves in; that situation went on for weeks, until eventually the Heath Government had to semi-nationalise it. I have the feeling that you may be back here in a couple of weeks’ time if you cannot find a buyer, so you will really have to consider that. I hope you will consider that, because if you do not, you will be inflicting a lot of pain on a lot of good employees who work very hard. Once you have experienced something like that, you never forget it.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very serious point, but I just gently observe that I will not find a buyer and I will not be giving any consideration to this matter whatsoever.

[Greg Clark]

I get the hon. Gentleman’s gist; I know what he requires. He is right to call attention to the fact that, notwithstanding the intentions that everyone in the House has expressed, today is a day that no one in Scunthorpe, in Skinningrove or on Teesside wanted to see. It is a very worrying day; people will go to bed tonight very concerned about their future. We cannot resolve this overnight, but we can resolve to do everything we practically can to make a good future possible. I am grateful for the support and commitments from across the House that we will all do precisely that.