Richard Tice

“It is a pleasure to stand up and support the Government and this Bill, because we all know that the ability to make primary steel is absolutely in the public interest, and it therefore automatically meets the public interest test. We cannot be the only G7 nation without the ability to make primary steel using a blast furnace, but that will be the consequence if this legislation does not go ahead. The Conservatives’ line of thinking is to just rely on the private sector. Well, they tried that for some 14 years, but the reality is that the state of the blast furnaces means that they need investment for relining, renewing and rebuilding. The private sector has said that it is not there yet, but it could be, so we need a period of time when the industry has the commitment of the public sector to ensure that a thriving primary steelmaking capability can exist. We face real danger. Only over the weekend we heard that the plans for a new electric arc furnace down at Port Talbot have been delayed by at least nine months, and possibly much longer, because of a failure to secure a grid connection. I fear that that is just the beginning: there could be concerns about the reliability of a connection or about the price of electricity. We hear from Tata UK that it is completely committed to opening an electric arc furnace, but I fear that the issues considered by Tata India’s board will be very different. If an electric arc furnace does not open at Port Talbot, it will still sell us steel, but steel that is made in India. That might suit Tata, but it does not suit the workers in Wales and beyond. We have just heard from the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) that the electric arc furnaces at Rotherham are not operational. We therefore face the real risk of having almost no steel manufacturing capability, whether from the electric arc furnace or from the blast furnace. It would be deeply humiliating for us, as a G7 nation, to end up with almost no steel-making capability. Before I come on to the new clause that we tabled, let me refer to a couple of technicalities. Clause 44, on pension rights, refers to the ability to amend rights and liabilities. Members of British Steel pension funds will want confirmation that there is no intention to amend the existing rights of the workers, be they current or past serving members. I hope that the Minister can address that. We need to get on with the Bill. As others have mentioned, we are almost in a sort of pause, whereas we need investment. That is why the proposals from the Conservative party are the exact opposite of what is required. What is required is a vision, a strategy and a commitment to the blast furnaces. Alongside that, there is a need for a new plate mill to ensure that we can have greater manufacturing capability. Other hon. Members have highlighted the concerns that we do not currently have enough of that capability. We can, we should, we must.”