Scunthorpe Steelworks - 7th April 2025

Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate Scunthorpe Steelworks.

Full text: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-04-07/debates/126683AB-3EB8-495D-B861-0C830E0407DC/ScunthorpeSteelworks

Sarah Jones (Labour)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his contribution and for welcoming the Prime Minister’s announcements today on the zero emission vehicle mandate and the changes we have made to support the automotive industry, which is incredibly important.

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15:53 Bill Esterson (Labour)

Two weeks ago, I was at the Tata steelworks with the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee. We spoke to people locally, who had great concerns that when the blast furnaces there shut—it was too late for this Government to take action to prevent that when they came in—it was some years before the new electric arc furnace technology was ready to be installed and to operate.

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John Cooper (Conservative)

Between 1997 and 2010, about 36,000 jobs were lost in steelmaking, or about half the workforce—that was under Labour, of course. I am concerned to hear talk today about nationalisation, and I say that with due deference to my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers); the old joke is that if we want to stop crime paying, we should nationalise it. Given that this Government could not run a bath, never mind the steel industry, would a better idea not be to support the industry with, as I have mentioned before, a golden share to give us some say over what happens? Again, is the truth not that the dogmatic pursuit of net zero is driving up energy bills in this country to a level that is simply not sustainable for industry?

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Lee Anderson (Reform)

These steelworkers do not want visits from the DWP. They do not even want visits from out-of-touch Labour Back-Bench MPs. What they want is their jobs: they want to make steel. It is interesting to hear from the Minister that all options are on the table. Do they include Reform UK’s policy of scrapping net zero and renationalising British Steel?

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16:10 Andrew Murrison (Conservative)

Does the Minister agree that we appear to have hammered out a cross-party consensus on the need to ensure that this country is able to continue to produce virgin steel, just like every other G7 country, for a whole raft of reasons? Does she agree that the case is underscored and reinforced by the Trump slump, by her party’s welcome, albeit belated, pragmatism on net zero and, one hopes, an attendant fall in energy costs, and by the Prime Minister’s intriguing announcement of the end of globalisation? Does she agree that those three things have underscored and reinforced the case for continuing to produce virgin steel in this country?

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