Decisive action to protect jobs and safeguard industrial future

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds during a visit to the British Steel site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, after ministers took over British Steel under emergency legislation in an effort to stop Britain's last primary steelmaking facility from closing irrevocably (Picture: Darren Staples/PA Wire)

Parliament was recalled last Saturday to pass an emergency bill to save British Steel. I’m sorry the word “British” was too much for the SNP but it was in everyone’s interest to save the last UK steel plant of its kind. The legislation keeps the blast furnaces at the Scunthorpe steelworks running. It doesn’t propose nationalisation although that remains an option.

The Government had been negotiating with the plant’s Chinese owners, Jingye, and had offered support to keep the plant open. But Jingye accelerated plans to close the blast furnaces. We had to act. It’s a marked difference from the previous government. Under the Conservatives, the steel industry was left lurching from crisis to crisis, with the economic output of UK steel halving under their watch. We promised in our manifesto that we would take action to protect UK steel. Before the events of recent weeks, we had already allocated £2.5 billion to support the industry’s future.

Steel could not be more vital to our future prosperity and security despite the Scottish Government’s use of imported Chinese steel for Scottish projects. British Steel supplies 90 per cent of Network Rail’s steel requirements and is a major supplier of the construction sector. It’s also crucial for the clean energy sector and the UK Government target of 100 per cent clean energy by 2030. Approximately 25 million tonnes of steel will be needed in the next 25 years for offshore wind alone.

While the Labour Government has taken decisive action to protect steel production, in Scotland there are serious questions for the SNP to answer on the Lochaber aluminium smelter that they underwrite with £538m of taxpayers money, and the Dalzell and Clydebridge steel works in Motherwell. The workforce is furloughed with no work running through the Lanarkshire sites. The Labour Government securing the UK’s last blast furnaces generates opportunities for Dalzell.

Scottish steel can have a bright future, but we need the Scottish Government to outline what steps they are taking to get these sites up and running following a deal they brokered. Instead, the SNP decided to change history on the future of Grangemouth. When Labour entered office last July there were no plans for Grangemouth, despite the Tories and the SNP knowing for years about problems at the refinery. Grangemouth was the first meeting I had in government less than 24 hours after being appointed a Cabinet minister.

Since then, we have delivered £100m for the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth deal, launched and concluded Project Willow to outline paths to a low-carbon future for the site, and allocated £200m for its industrial future. It’s one of a number of actions we have taken to protect Scotland’s industry. We have also brokered a deal to secure the Methil and Arnish fabrication yards, protecting 350 jobs. The Scottish Government is the plant’s landlord and did nothing to assist.

This Labour Government is an active government that will always protect jobs and our industrial future. Our actions over the last week, and the last nine months, confirm that. Now we need the Scottish Government to stop undermining these efforts and take action to protect steel and industry here.

Ian Murray is MP for Edinburgh South and Secretary of State for Scotland