Protecting Britain’s Steel Industry

Nicola Richards Excerpts

Monday 21st June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nicola Richards (West Bromwich East) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak up for our fantastic steel industry in West Bromwich East and the wider country. Steel has always been very important to the Black Country. The industrial revolution brought with it huge technological changes that the Black Country capitalised on, allowing cast-iron and steel to be produced at a cheaper price than wrought iron. Steel is part of our identity, and the communities that grew around West Bromwich, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley were home to the families that drove the furnaces day and night—"Black by day, red by night”, as the saying goes. We are proud of our industrial heritage in my part of the Black Country. Indeed, steel, iron and industry are what our regional flag is all about, and I know that the people of the Black Country are incredibly proud of that.

As we know, this debate is about not just the economic benefits of producing steel, but the future of the industry and the many thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on its success. That is why I was in many ways surprised to see this as a subject of an Opposition day debate, given the strong commitments this Government have made to the steel industry. Interestingly, employment in the UK steel industry was cut by more than a half under Labour. The Office for National Statistics says that jobs in the steel industry fell by more than half between 1997 and 2010. By stark contrast, the proportion of steel procured within the UK nearly doubled in 2020 compared with the year before, with 77% of steel used in public projects now being procured from the UK. I would be interested to hear from the Minister about the plans to ensure that our domestic steel industry is at the heart of the Government’s plans to build back better after the pandemic.

I am also impressed by the launching of the steel procurement taskforce, helping the industry to compete for public contracts. Meeting regularly over the coming year, the taskforce aims to explore what the Government and industry can do to address challenges that the sector is facing in competing for and securing public contracts. That is a common-sense approach. It would however, be remiss of me not to mention the situation with Liberty Steel, which has been an incredibly worrying episode for many of my constituents and their families.

I have already spoken about this situation, but I really hope for a positive resolution to it soon and call again for the protection of jobs in West Bromwich. I have spoken to the Business Secretary about this directly on many occasions and want once again to place on record my personal thanks to him for his regular engagement and his commitment to the industry. Re-establishing the UK Steel Council and creating the £250 million clean steel fund to help the sector adapt to new challenges, such as decarbonisation, is absolutely the right way forward. Later this year, the Prime Minister will be looking to secure firmer climate target agreements when he hosts the COP26 summit in Glasgow, so I implore the Government to engage with industry leaders and stakeholders ahead of the summit to bring the entire steel industry with us on this decarbonisation drive.