UK Steel Production: Greensill Capital Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Charlotte Nichols
Main Page: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)Department Debates - View all Charlotte Nichols's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
UK Steel Production: Greensill Capital
Charlotte Nichols Excerpts(3 years, 1 month ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
My right hon. Friend will know that the steel industry in particular is subject to fairly stringent World Trade Organisation rules. She will also know, given the publication of our industrial decarbonisation strategy, that we are rigorously focused on trying to source clean, green steel in order to drive a green industrial revolution and to create the infrastructure projects without which we cannot have any real economic growth.
Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) (Lab) [V]
Last year, the Government spent £4.8 billion on subsidies for wind power, yet almost no wind farms use UK steel. Those orders would be a boon to the struggling steel industry, but the Department does not even include renewable energy products in its annual list of orders that went to domestic suppliers. In January, the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), said that the Government would consider reporting the share of UK steel used in offshore wind projects
“if it is in the public interest.”
Will the Secretary of State accept that it clearly would be in the public interest to name and shame the developers that do not use UK steel, and will he commit to making that change?
Kwasi Kwarteng
The hon. Lady will appreciate that, as part of the offshore wind sector deal, we have explicitly said that 60% of the supply chain should be UK-sourced, and clearly steel is a big part of that supply chain. She will also appreciate that, as Energy Minister, I made it a priority to ensure that in the fourth auction round at the end of this year, these targets will be met. Steel is part of that, and we are absolutely committed to having more UK content in the supply chain for offshore wind.