Government plans to fortify UK steelmaking were welcomed by Crawley Member of Parliament Peter Lamb as a crucial step to preserving the UK’s sovereign steelmaking capacity.
The Plan for Steel – launched by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds earlier this month – will look at the long-term issues facing the industry like high electricity costs, unfair trading practices, and scrap metal recycling to protect jobs and living standards in the UK’s industrial heartlands.
After years of neglect under the last Conservative Government, up to £2.5 billion will be put towards supporting the steel industry, as per the Labour manifesto, including via the National Wealth Fund. This could benefit regions across the UK.
It will be spent on initiatives that will give the industry a long future – such as electric arc furnaces, or other improvements to UK capabilities. The Plan for Steel will help with the issues which have been holding the industry back for too long. It will look at ways to:
- Identify where there are opportunities to expand UK steelmaking to better support UK manufacturing, construction, infrastructure and growth – and secure UK jobs and livelihoods
- Protect the steel sector from unfair trading practices abroad
- Improve our scrap processing facilities so they can best support the steel-making of the future
- Encourage high usage of UK-made steel in public projects
- Tackle the high electricity prices that have held back the competitiveness of UK steelworks
Peter Lamb, Labour MP for Crawley, said:
“During my time as council leader I encouraged the local use of British steel as part of efforts to protect a crucial national industry.
The announcement of a Plan for Steel is fantastic news, providing a roadmap to the long-term future of British steel.”
Discover more from Peter Lamb for Crawley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Peter Lamb for Crawley 