Zarah ChoudharyCommunity, the steelmakers’ union, has launched a report calling for urgent action from the Government to secure a long-term future for the country’s steel industry.
The union’s new report, Steel Reforged, outlined a series of recommendations to secure the future of the UK’s steel industry into the 2030s and beyond.
Key proposals included the introduction of a direct reduced iron (DRI) facility to sustain the country’s primary steelmaking capability, alongside investment in a modern steel plate mill.
The report also called for Government action to mandate or incentivise the use of UK-made steel in energy, defence, and related infrastructure projects.
Additionally, it urged the Government to accelerate the introduction of a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by one year to 2026, in order to prevent an influx of high-emission steel imports.
Finally, the report highlighted the need to reduce industrial electricity prices for UK steelmakers, bringing them in line with the lower costs paid by their competitors in France and Germany.
Roy Rickhuss CBE, general secretary at Community, said: “There is huge potential for our steel industry in the years ahead.
“This Government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure and growth, and the wider path towards a greener economy, will require enormous amounts of steel product.
“At Community, our argument is that we should be making that steel here in the UK – supporting thousands of well-paid jobs right across the country and investing in the skills and experience that we have in our world-class steel workforce.
“Our new report Steel Reforged lays out a road map for how we can revitalise our steel industry over the years ahead, including by securing primary steelmaking capacity which is so crucial to our national security and sovereignty in an unstable and volatile world.
“The blast furnaces at Scunthorpe are now the UK’s only primary steelmaking capability and the future of that site must be secured.
“There will be challenges ahead, but there are also huge opportunities on the horizon.
“The Labour Government has shown its ambition for the steel sector by earmarking £2.5bn to help the industry decarbonise.
“We welcome this, and now urge ministers to go even further by placing steel at the heart of a national industrial strategy fit for the future.”
Reaction:
Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary at Community:
“Make no mistake about it, we stand at a crucial moment for steelmaking in this country.
“We must ask ourselves the fundamental question of whether we want to be country that produces or a country that imports.
“At Community, we choose the former, and our new Steel Reforged report outlines the prospects for revitalising our steel sector: supporting good quality jobs across the country beyond London and the South-East, and reindustrialising and greening our economy.
“We are grateful for the support our report has already received from parliamentarians and representatives from the steel sector, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with government ministers on its ambitious and achievable recommendations.”
Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberafan Maesteg:
“Community’s new report sets out a compelling vision for a competitive British steel industry, recognising the need for Britain to seize the opportunities ahead of us.
“Higher defence spending, new infrastructure projects and a growing offshore wind industry are each driving new demand for steel which we simply must seek to meet here in the UK – by creating a competitive policy environment and investing in the technologies of the future, such as a plate mill and a DRI facility.”
Sarah Jones, Industry Minister:
“It’s good to see confidence in our Plan for Steel, which we’ve backed with up to £2.5bn of investment to secure a long-term future for the steel industry.
“We’re exploring all options to help us grow the steel sector in the UK and deliver on our Plan for Change, protecting the workforce, taxpayers and industry.”
Ross Clark, community union convenor at Dalzell Steelworks:
“It’s been a really difficult few years for all of us at Dalzell, and the situation remains challenging.
“All of us on site just want to be able to get on with the job, which is producing the best steel plate money can buy.
“The new Community Steel Reforged report demonstrates what could be possible at Dalzell with the right investment and upgrades – the opportunities for steel plate over the years ahead are massive, particularly in supplying the offshore wind industry and the defence sector.
“Dalzell has a long proven history of supporting the defence industry. We have an experienced Plate Mill workforce ready and able to produce Steel Plate.
“That is why it is so infuriating seeing foreign Steel Plate being used in our UK defence contracts. How is this ethical or environmentally acceptable?
“We know that our mill needs modernisation, but the capability and expertise is there to be harnessed.”
Ian Linklater, chair of the Multi-Union Committee at Scunthorpe:
“Steel Reforged highlights the strategic importance of British Steel in Scunthorpe and the importance of maintaining steelmaking capacity here in the UK – in an uncertain world, we can’t risk becoming reliant on other countries for our steel.
“The new report sets out a strategy for investing in and growing our steel industry, which is an absolutely essential step for the country – steel underpins our entire manufacturing sector and our national security.”
