Steel industry calls for fresh help as Tories prepare to gather for conference

Tory ministers are under pressure to throw the steel industry a lifeline as firms grapple with sky-high power costs.

Seven in 10 voters think the Government should intervene to “provide competitively priced electricity” to the sector, according to a study.

The survey, which comes as Conservatives prepare to gather in Birmingham for their annual conference starting tomorrow, also showed 80% of the public believe steel is “a strategically important industry that we must maintain”.

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The findings come in trade body UK Steel’s latest report, The Future of UK Steel – Five Steel Sector Priorities for a New Government, seen exclusively by the Mirror.

Among its demands, it wants “competitive electricity prices to attract inward investment and ensure steel can be produced at a competitive cost in the UK”.

UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “This report demonstrates what we in the steel industry have always instinctively known – that the great British public understands the strategic importance of UK-made steel and knows it is critical to the success of the country that we continue to make it within our own borders.

“Beyond this, the public understand what is necessary to ensure sustainable steel production here in the UK and want to see the Government take action to deliver it.

“For a long time, the UK steel industry often felt like successive governments had little interest in it and were content to see it gradually decline whilst we became more and more reliant on imports from overseas.”

Sixty-eight-per cent of the 1,500 people polled by Stack Data Strategy last month think public infrastructure projects should “prioritise the use of UK-made steel wherever possible”.

The finding triggered renewed calls on the Government to buy British for major procurement deals – backing the 34,500 workers directly employed by UK steel companies, along with another 43,000 staff in supply chains.

It also urges the Government to help the sector with a plan to produce British steel with net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – urging support for the industry to go green.

Community steelworkers’ union’s operations director Alasdair McDiarmid said: “Britain’s steel industry is world class and supports thousands of good jobs and steel communities across the country.

“During these turbulent times for our economy and for global security, our steel industry has never been so important.

“We welcome this report which identifies five crucial areas where the new Government must act to safeguard our vital strategic industry.

“Polling shows the public backs government action to secure the future of British steelmaking – we urge the Prime Minister to take this on board and act now before it becomes too late.”

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Steel and whose Aberavon constituency includes Britain’s biggest steelworks, Port Talbot, said: “British steelworkers make the best steel that money can buy, but for far too long they have been competing with one hand tied behind their backs due to the Government failing to tackle sky-high electricity costs and a range of other policy issues.

“This important polling shows that the British people are absolutely clear that they want the UK Government to support and invest in our steel industry.

“They know that now more than ever our communities need good, well-paid jobs, that our planet needs clean steel, and that our country needs a strong and resilient manufacturing base.”

The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015 when the £2.4billion industry was hammered by plant closures and thousands of job losses.