UK 'woefully underprepared' for conflict if steel blast furnaces are closed

25 January 2024 , 14:54

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A general view of the inside of the Plate Mill at Tata Steel's Scunthorpe site (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

The UK could be left "woefully underprepared" for potential conflicts if steel blast furnaces are allowed to close, warns the GMB union.

They've written to Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, stating that losing the ability to make steel from scratch will "significantly impact" the security of the country's essential defence supply chains. This warning comes after news that the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, the country's largest steel plant in South Wales, are set to close.

This could result in the loss of up to 2,800 jobs as the company moves towards a greener method of producing steel. Tata plans to replace the blast furnaces with an electric arc furnace, which can produce recycled steel.

However, the GMB has expressed concerns that British Steel intends to shut its blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, leaving the UK without a way to produce "virgin" steel. Matt Roberts, GMB national officer, said: "We live in a turbulent global environment."

He added: "Both Nato's defence chief and Mr Shapps himself have warned that war in the next two decades is a possibility. Yet we are on the brink of losing our full ability to make our own steel, vital to our defence industry, not least in building warships."

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He concluded: "It's utter folly." and "GMB is very clear, we must retain sovereign capability to make virgin steel."

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Lawrence Matheson