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Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill

Well, thank you, Mr Speaker—no pressure. [Interruption.] I will put some of my papers down.

May I start by praising the Business Secretary and his team for the way in which they have introduced the legislation? I add to that my praise for trade unions, local management and Members of Parliament of both main parties—not least my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Sir Nicholas Dakin), who, being a Minister, is not speaking in the debate. I joined him on a 2023 visit to Scunthorpe, where the very concerns about Jingye that we have heard today were shared with us by local management and trade unions alike. It is no surprise that those concerns have come to pass.

The last Government were warned, and they chose not to take the action needed. Ministers in the last Government told me that steel needed by the Navy and by those across our economy could not be made at Scunthorpe, or at other steel plants. Interestingly, the local management and the trade unions told me that they could make whatever their customers asked them to make by adjusting production. Again, it is a pity that the last Government did not listen, or we might be in a rather different place now. During the last Parliament, we were the only country in the G20 where production of primary steel, and steel overall, was falling. If the blast furnaces were allowed to close, we would be the only country in the G20 without any primary steelmaking capacity, which underlines why today’s legislation is so important.

The steel at Scunthorpe is of strategic national importance. Some 95% of our rail tracks are made at Scunthorpe, and the steelworks there carry out automotive, construction and defence production, all of which are critically important to this country. In addition to what is made now, there are opportunities in energy transition and defence. Some 25 million tonnes of steel will be required over the next 25 years in the offshore wind sector alone, so there are great opportunities if we can secure the future of Scunthorpe.

At the Liaison Committee last Tuesday, the Prime Minister mentioned that the grid connection plan for the Scunthorpe site is only due in 2034. Our electricity prices are 46% above the average for International Energy Agency states. The Government have to address the challenges of slow grid connections and uncompetitive industrial energy prices if they are to enable the modernisation of industry as a whole, and steel in particular.