Minister of State ():Today the Secretary of State
for Business and Trade and I will convene the first meeting of
the renewed Steel Council. This forum brings together leaders
from across the sector to provide strategic guidance and external
expertise in the development and implementation of our Steel
Strategy.
Steel has for too long been a neglected industry in this country.
Staggeringly, steel production has declined by more than 50% in
the last 10 years. Internationally, unfair actions by some
overseas nations have undermined free trade, meaning our steel
companies aren't able to compete on a level playing field.
I believe steel should and could become a positive story. We are
not naïve to the scale of the challenge, or the situation we
inherited. We know these are tough circumstances and it will take
time to make things better. This Government will not let the UK
lose our steel industry.
In Victorian times, we were the country which invented the modern
way of steel-production. Now is the time to find our next
approach which enables steel growth and innovation. We are the
Government determined to make the hardheaded decisions to make
that happen. This is why we have committed to publishing a Steel
Strategy in Spring 2025.
Such a Strategy will need to set a strong vision for the future,
combat those factors which undermine competitiveness, and
highlight the opportunities and future demand for green steel
made in the UK.
As part of this steel Strategy, this Government will look
seriously at options to improve steel capabilities across the
supply chain, including in primary steelmaking. As such, I am
also announcing today that the Materials Processing Institute, a
not-for-profit research and innovation centre based in Teesside,
will lead an independent review into the viability of
technologies for primary steel production, including Direct
Reduced Iron. MPI will produce a recommendation to Government on
the viability of iron-making and primary steel production
technologies in the UK with a view to the current and potential
future market.
Our new Steel Council will help us develop the Strategy together.
It will put the expertise of its members at the heart of our
policy making process. It will provide a vital link between the
Government, industry, workers, and our innovative thinkers.
Following the publication of the primary steel review and the
Steel Strategy, we will continue to convene the Council
throughout this Parliament so we can make sure we drive
implementation of the Strategy and we make great use of the up to
£2.5bn of funding that we have committed to help rebuild the
sector.
The Council will be chaired by the Secretary of State for
Business and Trade and co-chaired by Jon Bolton, who has
extensive experience of working in the sector both at home and
aboard. Its membership includes representative from steel
producers, the supply chain, research and development, Trade
Unions and the Devolved Governments.
We have published the full membership on Gov.uk at the following
link (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-plan-to-secure-the-long-term-future-of-steelmaking-and-safeguard-steel-communities(opens
in a new tab)). We will be uploading the Terms of Reference
for the Steel Council and the Primary Production Review to this
page in due course.
