Fresh pleas to save steel industry as Business Secretary finally visits plants
The Business Secretary faces fresh calls to boost the steel industry after she finally visited Britain’s two biggest steelworks.
Top Tory Kemi Badenoch made trips to Tata’s plant in Port Talbot, South Wales, and British Steel’s site in Scunthorpe, Lincs, in recent days - nearly three months after she got the Cabinet post.
The Mirror understands company bosses urged her to speed-up government help in supporting the sector to switch to more environmentally-friendly production.
Following talks with Mrs Badenoch last Wednesday, British Steel said it wanted to “rapidly progress our discussions with the government”.
A spokesman added: “We discussed the significant challenges Britain’s steelmakers like ourselves face, and our pressing need for support from the UK Government on our journey to net zero.”
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Mrs Badenoch visited British Steel's operation at ScunthorpeA Tata spokesman said: “We were delighted to welcome Kemi Badenoch to Port Talbot and discuss the huge potential of investing in the decarbonisation of our steel industry.
“Green steel has a critical role to play in the UK’s transition to net zero, underpinning resilience in domestic manufacturing and supporting ‘levelling up’.”
Steel is blamed for 14% of the UK’s industrial emissions and 2.7% of all Britain’s greenhouse gases.
The £2.4billion employs 33,700 people directly in the UK and supports a further 43,000 in supply chains.
The sector is blamed for its disproportionate contribution to Britain's carbon emissions (Jonathan Myers)Ministers and industry chiefs have been locked in negotiations about funding to help the sector switch to greener production.
But an Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit study published in March revealed Britain has just one planned “green steel” project, compared with 38 in the EU.
Ten plants on the Continent already produce green steel.
Mrs Badenoch sparked fears for the Government's commitment to a steel industry within hours of her appointment in February.
Asked on Sky News whether the UK “come what may, would always need to have a steel industry”, she claimed: “Nothing is ever a given.”
But in a video filmed at Tata on April 30, she insisted: “The Government very much believes in the importance of the steel industry to the UK, we want it to be successful.
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“We want to do everything we can to make sure we have got a viable steel industry in the UK.”
She added: “I’m really, really pleased to be getting a better understanding of steelmaking in the UK … steel is going to be critical for us in moving to a green industrial economy.
The industry wants to move to more environmentally-friendly production (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)“It’s critical to decarbonise if we want to get that transition to net-zero.”
Following her visit to British Steel, Mrs Badenoch said: "It's a crucial time for the industry as our country moves towards net zero and I know steelmakers are working hard to make changes to cut their carbon emissions."
An ally of Mrs Badenoch defended her taking three months to visit a steel plant, pointing to her overseas travel as part of her Trade Secretary role, and her job as Equalities Minister, alongside her Business Secretary post.
The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
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