Chris McDonald

Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

As I was preparing for today’s debate, it struck me that 60 years ago this summer, this House was debating steel nationalisation and the England team went on to win the world cup. We are back here discussing steel nationalisation again, so I have high hopes for the summer. Sometimes it is informative to learn from the past. Going back to the steel nationalisation of 1966, the Minister of Power opened the debate and said that “there is no manufacturing industry of such basic importance to the Bri

Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

Yes, the hon. Member is right. There is a gulf there: the Conservatives were in favour of some of the highest industrial energy prices in the world. We have delivered an increase in the supercharger benefit from 60% to 90% and introduced the British industrial competitiveness scheme. Through our investments in chemicals, ceramics and, of course, steel, we are supporting British industry with its operating costs on energy and its capital costs to improve its productivity as well. In steel communi

Steel Strategy

I thank my hon. Friend for raising issues with businesses in Stourbridge when we met earlier this week; I am happy to continue to work with her. The measures we have introduced, which are primarily to protect the UK steel industry, are targeted at steels that are made or can be made in the UK. There are sometimes difficulties where a product code covers multiple steel grades, but that is what the quota system is intended to deal with, and of course there will be a review in 12 months’ time.

Steel Strategy

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his comments. I believe we have had representation from Stannah, the stairlift company based in his constituency. It is important to say that the Government take action like this reluctantly, but ultimately there are distortions in the market around steel. The EU taking action itself would lead to the UK becoming a dumping ground for cheap steel flooding in from overseas. We have taken a very carefully balanced approach and consulted carefully with the indust

Steel Strategy

I am not familiar with the situation with Dynamic Metals. I was just having a discussion on the Front Bench with the Minister for Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda and Ogmore (Chris Bryant), and if the hon. Lady writes to him, he will look carefully at the matter she has raised.

Steel Strategy

I reiterate the point that the action that the Government have taken has been to correct an issue in the market. We have taken wide representation. In fact, we amended the list as a result of some of that representation. The shadow Minister’s point about inflation goes exactly back to the point that I made earlier. This country cannot be in a position where we say that we are prepared to buy the cheapest thing, wherever it is made in the world, to the sacrifice of our own industry. We cannot all

Topical Questions

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the potential in Cornwall, which is a unique and distinctive part of the country. It powered our industrial past and it will power our industrial future. I am happy to meet her and colleagues to talk more about the opportunities in Cornwall.

Topical Questions

My hon. Friend knows that I am a strong advocate of steel in construction, but she is right: there has been a missed opportunity on timber, particularly as many of our hardwood forests are coming to maturity, which means we will have a real surplus of hardwood in the UK. Something we will suffer from, though, is downstream processing of timber, so we need to look at how we can encourage more investment in the sawmills and downstream processing industry.

Industrial Strategy

We have just heard from the Secretary of State about our active industrial strategy. This question is timely, because we are one year on from setting out our industrial strategy. We have announced our British industrial competitiveness scheme, expanding its scope to support 10,000 businesses with their energy costs, a £500 million sovereign AI fund, and the creation of 19 new technical excellence colleges, giving opportunities for young people across the country.

Industrial Strategy

My hon. Friend knows that when he talks about reindustrialisation and improving the manufacturing base of this economy he finds a very sympathetic ear in me. Certainly, we have all seen over the course of the past few years, through multiple crises, how the resilience of global supply chains has been reduced. Increasing the share of our economy that is dedicated to manufacturing will serve the ecological aims that he has mentioned, improve our national resilience and provide good, well-paid and

Industrial Strategy

At the time that the industrial strategy was established, the Government carefully selected those sectors that had the greatest growth potential for the economy, but we were also extremely clear in communicating that that does not mean that sectors that were not identified as having high growth potential were not important—quite the contrary. Our food manufacturing sector is incredibly important, and the Government are acutely aware of the issues around food prices. I believe that the Chancellor

Industrial Strategy

My hon. Friend is right that automotive manufacturing is a key part of our advanced manufacturing sector, and she has done a huge amount here in the House to champion the sector in her area nationally. One area we are focusing on is supporting the sector with the development of new technology, such as autonomous vehicles; last week, the Secretary of State signed a memorandum of understanding with Wayve. We are determined that the UK will become Europe’s first market for digital driving services,

Industrial Strategy

I commend the hon. Lady for championing the chemicals sector in the House. I am extremely concerned about the sector, including chlorine, because it is vital to the UK economy, as she says. This Government are taking action through our industrial strategy to focus on heavy industry and energy-intensive industries. I might have an opportunity to speak with her later today, if that would be of interest.

Industrial Strategy

The hon. Gentleman is right to point out the importance of construction skills. In fact, on a recent visit to a construction skills academy in east London, I had the opportunity to do a bit of tiling myself—that has come in quite handy at home, actually—and to talk to some of the young people, who realise that they are developing skills for life. The Government are incredibly committed to that. The hon. Gentleman may have missed it, but he will be pleased to know that the Government have announc

Industrial Strategy

Yes, indeed. I engage with the construction industry extremely regularly as the co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, and skills, along with health and safety, are absolutely at the top of our agenda. The views of the construction industry on the Construction Industry Training Board are discussed there and decided there by the industry.

Industrial Strategy

The hon. Member raises an extremely important point: Government procurement can, of course, be an important lever for growing our economy. Whereas previous Governments used the fig leaf of being in the EU as an excuse to buy things from overseas simply because they were a penny cheaper, this Government are committed to ensuring that as much as possible of UK taxpayers’ money is spent in the UK. The hon. Member asks what discussions I am having with Cabinet Office colleagues. I am having discussi

Steel Strategy

Since publishing our steel strategy on 19 March, we have published provisional product scope and quota volumes for the new steel trade measures; further reduced electricity prices for steel companies from 1 April through our network charging compensation scheme uplift; confirmed that some steel companies will be part of the British industrial competitiveness scheme; announced new transparency requirements on the origin of steel in public procurement; set up a cross-Government working group on sc

Steel Strategy

I do indeed agree. The £100 million investment in 7 Steel UK is welcome news, but I met the owners of the business, and they told me that they were able to release that investment only because of the confidence they had in the Government’s approach following the publication of our steel strategy. That is a direct correlation between Government action and £100 million-worth of investment in Cardiff. I know that my hon. Friend has been a strong advocate of the steel industry. There is an opportuni

Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

While the Government are minded to nationalise British Steel, we do not have any other nationalisations in mind. However, we do recognise the importance of the Dalzell plate mill, and I am concerned to ensure that it gets back up and running, and delivers its steel ship plate orders. I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she has been doing in championing that. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Dr Tidball)—she is sitting behind me—who has supported me throughout

Topical Questions

My hon. Friend is right: £200 million is available for such projects. The initial £14.5 million of funding that was announced will help businesses to test the feasibility of their project ideas in order to secure long-term funding from the National Wealth Fund.

Topical Questions

My hon. Friend raises an important point about support for small businesses. It is important that their cash flow is protected and that they are paid on time—hopefully my hon. Friend will have noticed the announcement of the Commercial Payments Bill in the King’s Speech, which will give us the strongest legal framework in the G7.

Wind Farms: Protected Peatland

I am grateful for that intervention, because the hon. Member is right; he mentioned that and I meant to respond to it, but I had forgotten. It is important to note that there is no role for the Government in extending the consultation—that is a matter for the developer, but I am sure that any responsible developer would listen very carefully to the voice of the local community and Members of Parliament, so it is important that he has put that on the record. Our clean power 2030 mission is our ro

Wind Farms: Protected Peatland

I hope the hon. Member will recognise that as I continue my remarks I will address many of the points that he made in his speech, including the point about peatland. From the contributions we have heard today, I would say there is strong agreement in this room on the need both to tackle climate change and to care for our special environments in the UK, including peatland. He will hear more on that from me shortly. Removing the ban on onshore wind was a very early and important decision that the

Wind Farms: Protected Peatland

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for securing this debate, which I know is very important for his constituency, just as it is for the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Josh Fenton-Glynn)—I know that he has done a huge amount of work in engaging Ministers on this topic and I thank him for that. He is probably the person in the room who has the greatest intimate knowledge of the bo