The Prime Minister opened Cabinet by paying tribute to His
Holiness Pope Francis, and reflected on the funeral which he said
was an incredible and very moving occasion. He said His Holiness
was respected across the world beyond the Catholic faith. He said
it was also remarkable to see world leaders travel from around
the world and reflected on helpful discussions in the margins of
the event on Ukraine, following the productive session in London
last week.
The Leaders of the Commons and the Lords updated on business
in both Houses. They thanked colleagues for their support on the
recall of Parliament to secure the future of British Steel and
updated on progress on bills including the Football Governance,
Borders, Children's Wellbeing and Schools, and Bus Services
Bills. The Leader of the House also noted that on
8th May, to mark VE Day, the Commons will be
suspended shortly after 11am and some MPs and peers will process
from Parliament to Westminster Abbey, recreating the procession
that took place 80 years ago.
The Prime Minister then turned to the work to secure the future
of British Steel, saying it was right that the government acted
with urgency to secure British Steel, and reflected on his visit
to Scunthorpe to meet workers.
The Business Secretary said the government had acted decisively
in difficult circumstances, with widespread support from the
local and business community. He said the government had been
able to secure the raw materials needed with very little time to
spare, cancelled the consultation on 2,700 redundancies and the
temporary closure of one of the blast furnaces. He said the
immediate focus was now on ensuring the company is well run
during the period of special measures, conducting a bespoke
national security review of steel capacity, and work on ownership
where in the long-term the government will need to find a
long-term partner in the private sector to deliver the skills and
capacity needed at the site, while full nationalisation remains
the likely option in the short-term.
The Chancellor added that in a changing world security and
resilience is crucial to an economy, and without action on
British Steel the UK would have becoming overwhelmingly reliant
on imported steel despite our dependence on it to build airports,
railways, and our national defence. She paid tribute to the
workers who continued to operate the furnaces in the national
interest, in difficult circumstances so that when Parliament took
the decision to take the site into public control there was still
a steelworks there to save. She said the decision was taken in
the national interest to protect working people and crucial
supply chains.
The Deputy Prime Minister than updated Cabinet on Local
Government Reform and the work to ensure the funding of local
government is simpler, based on need, and focused on delivering
better outcomes for the public. She said part of this work
involved consolidating the main lines of individual grants that
local government receives from central government, with some
authorities receiving 300 individual grants, and while
consolidating grants may be bad news for the consultants who have
created an industry in advising local government on navigating
central government grants it would be good news for taxpayers.
