Echo Comment on Teesside missing out on electric arc furnace

In fact, national media reports suggest that the company has “abandoned plans to restore steelmaking to Teesside” and will place both furnaces in Scunthorpe.

That’s strong phraseology, but it would probably reflect how Teesside feels if it fails to get a furnace. With planning permission passed and the land available for an immediate start, it feels it has got all of its ducks in a row.

It would be very disappointing if Teesside, with its 150 years of iron and steel making, were to lose this opportunity.

It’s a huge shame that the argument already seems to have broken along party lines – Tory mayor and Labour government – and it seems to have descended into bickering over who did what to the steel industry a decade ago. It would be fabulous if everyone could work together to make the future better rather than repeating past recriminations.

Let’s also remember one other point. Electric arc furnaces are considered greener than blast furnaces because they use less power, but they are only recycling steel whereas blast furnaces create virgin steel. When the last blast furnaces at Scunthorpe and Port Talbot in Wales close, Britain will be the only G20 country unable to make virgin steel – and as most things from tin cans upwards need it, that must be a strategic worry wherever the two blast furnaces are placed.