Blame game on Teesside as steps taken over steel control

Parliament was recalled at the weekend and passed emergency legislation giving the Government new powers to intervene directly in the steel sector and take action to secure operations at British Steel’s threatened Scunthorpe site.

This followed fears that Jingye, the Chinese owners of the company, could shut the plant’s two blast furnaces, risking the livelihoods of 2,700 workers and the loss of the UK’s primary steelmaking capacity.

British Steel also operates the Teesside Beam Mill at Lackenby, which delivers steel for the construction industry and another rolling mill, the special profiles plant in Skinningrove, East Cleveland, which together employ about 700 people.

Some local Labour MPs suggested the former Conservative government could have similarly intervened to save the former Redcar steelworks, which closed in 2015 with the loss of 2,000 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs. 

Redcar Labour MP Anna Turley said: “This will enhance the powers of the secretary of state and ensure that the Government has the authority to intervene decisively in the national interest and protect skilled jobs in our communities.

Redcar MP Anna Turley speaks to the crowd at a \’Save our Steel\’ protest rally in Redcar in 2015

“This of course applies to hundreds of jobs in Lackenby and Skinningrove as well, which we have been working hard with the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to preserve.

“It is bitter sweet because it is hard not to think how different things might have been had David Cameron not taken these powers ten years ago and intervened to save the Redcar blast furnace.”

Writing on X, Middlesbrough Labour MP Andy McDonald said: “Labour is rightly taking action to keep British Steel open.

“The Tories failed to do that at Redcar in 2015.

“British Steel workers have a Labour government that has got their backs.”

But also writing on X, Stockton West Conservative MP Matt Vickers claimed Labour had “botched” the negotiations with Jingye.

Jingye had been seeking funding from the Government of £1bn to invest in new modern steel making methods in the shape of new electric arc furnaces in a bid to decarbonise and transform the fortunes of the loss-making steel industry.

But it was offered only half that – £500m – after months of talks, which it rejected, leading it to begin a consultation over closure options at Scunthorpe.

The picture then worsened amid reports that Scunthorpe was running out of the required raw materials to continue operating.

In a series of posts on X, former Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Tory MP Sir Simon Clarke, said nationalisation of British Steel was “clearly the right answer rather than closure, but this situation was totally avoidable, and will come with huge costs to all of us”.

Sir Simon, now a director at centre-right think tank Onward, also addressed Jingye’s initial plans to build a new electric arc furnace at Lackenby, Teesside.

The British Steel rolling mill at Lackenby (Image: TVCA)

The former MP said: “Scunthorpe is a much slower and a more expensive proposition to invest in because of its condition, while Teesside has both a cleared site and all the private wire network ready to go. Running a loss-making, dilapidated steelworks and then building new furnaces and remediating the site will cost billions of pounds.”

The former MP added: “Scunthorpe is a much slower and a more expensive proposition to invest in because of its condition, while Teesside has both a cleared site and all the private wire network ready to go.

“Running a loss-making, dilapidated steelworks and then building new furnaces and remediating the site will cost billions of pounds.”

Sir Simon’s successor as Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, Labour’s Luke Myer said: “Steel is the foundation of our economy and our national security, from hospitals to high speed rail, warships to wind turbines. 

“I’ve repeatedly called for the Government to step in if British Steel’s Chinese owners would not agree to a deal. 

“Now is the time – to secure jobs and industry, British Steel should be in British hands.”

Mr Myer claimed Conservatives had “let the industry decline for over a decade, delaying investment, ignoring calls from unions, and putting global markets ahead of British jobs”.

He added: “Labour has a plan to invest in steel, to buy British, and to rebuild the jobs and industries our communities deserve.”

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Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Taking control of steel won’t be easy or cheap, but jobs and national security must come first. 

“The Government will have to decide where investment goes, and Teesside is ready. 

“We’ve got the permissions, the grid, the land, the workforce, and the will to build a new electric arc furnace.

“I’ll fight for Teesside every step of the way and I call on unions, MPs and local leaders to do the same.”

British Steel’s accounts for 2022 showed losses of £408m, while the beleaguered steel industry was hit by another blow last September when Indian company Tata stopped making steel using traditional methods at its site in Port Talbot, Wales, and was subsequently given permission to import steel slabs from abroad to make steel products instead.