Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Debate between Andrew Griffith and Bill Esterson

2nd reading
Saturday 12th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffith]

I will take an intervention if someone wants to answer this question: has anyone in Government asked the ONS whether, as a result of the powers that are being taken in this Bill, from today British Steel will be classified as publicly owned, whether it has been formally nationalised or not? No answers.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

rose—

[Andrew Griffith]

That is a bit slow. [Interruption.] Go on then.

[Bill Esterson]

That is a relevant question, given that the hon. Gentleman was Boris Johnson’s business adviser when the Jingye deal was being negotiated. What advice did he give Boris Johnson about whether to accept that deal?

[Andrew Griffith]

Disappointingly, there was no answer to my important question about the ONS and whether this asset will sit on the Government’s balance sheet. Perhaps when the Minister winds up, he will provide an answer to that important question that affects the nation’s finances.

The markets know, the world knows and we know that the Chancellor’s headroom was inadequate from the very moment that she sat down after her last emergency Budget. Only this week, the Bank of England took the unprecedented step of cancelling the planned sale of Government bonds. Today’s botched nationalisation will further unsettle international markets. When will the Chancellor be presenting her next emergency Budget, and what are her plans to update the markets?

There we are: a disrespect of this House; the Government treating Parliament with disdain; nine months of dither and delay; and a botched nationalisation of steelmaking, with the British taxpayer on the hook. It is crystal clear that when Labour negotiates, Britain loses. This is not a serious Government. It is a Government shaped by events, not in control of them. It is government by sulky teenager—not sharing their plans, not answering the question, and when it goes wrong, it is everyone’s fault but theirs.