Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps he has taken to help protect the steel industry.

Through measures announced in our Industrial Strategy, we are taking action to improve the competitiveness and growth potential for our steel sector.

This includes steps to make industrial electricity costs for UK businesses cheaper and accelerating grid connection timelines for new projects. We are leveraging the Government’s purchasing power to bolster domestic competition by streamlining and strengthening criteria for suppliers to contribute to these objectives in their bids and continuing to incentivise investment in CCUS and hydrogen.

This Industrial Strategy, together with the Steel Strategy to be published later in the year, will ensure that this Government has a coordinated response to sector challenges and to drive new investments.