Steel nationalisation Bill secures MPs’ backing
MP's in the Commons have agreed to give the Government powers to nationalise parts of the steelmaking industry
Last updated 7 hours ago
MPs in the House of Commons have agreed to give the Government powers to nationalise parts of the steelmaking industry.
The Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill must now undergo scrutiny in the Lords before it can become law.
Once it is passed, ministers could use the draft new law to bring British Steel into public ownership.
Parliament last year gave the Government special powers to direct British Steel operations in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, to prevent its owner Jingye from closing blast furnaces.
But the company remained privately owned.
It is thought the Government previously tried to negotiate with British Steel’s owners on a commercial sale but failed to strike a deal.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle told the Commons: “Since I became Secretary of State, I have championed an activist interventionist industrial policy.
“Activist because the years of standing back and watching the British industry decline are over.
“Interventionist because we, like other governments around the world both right and left, from the USA to France and Germany, step in to invest, modernise, and protect their industries.
“Activist and interventionist because purpose without action is merely rhetoric.
“And acting without purpose is performative, not strategic. This Bill is action with a purpose and the purpose is clear – to invest (in), modernise, and protect Britain’s steel.”
Referring to British Steel and the Chinese firm Jingye, Mr Kyle earlier said: “Our decision to proceed with this Bill to take these powers now has absolutely nothing to do with the national origin of the current owners.”
Sarah Olney, the Liberal Democrats’ business spokeswoman, said her party “broadly” backed the legislation “as a temporary emergency and targeted step aimed specifically at turning around British Steel before it can be returned to the private sector”.
And Dame Harriett Baldwin, the Conservative shadow business minister, called for the Government to actively seek a private sector buyer for any nationalised assets, reporting to Parliament every six months.
She said the Bill “lacks any credible exit plan”.
Dame Harriett added: “What we’re saying here is that we don’t want this to be a permanent state of affairs.
“We do want this to be a journey to a thriving steel sector and that may well involve investors coming in from overseas.”
The shadow minister labelled the Bill the “Steel Industry (Blank Cheque) Bill – because it fails to protect the public purse from potentially vast and open-ended liabilities”.
Responding, industry minister Chris McDonald warned Dame Harriett’s suggestion would put pressure on ministers to treat nationalised steel “like a hot potato and immediately throw it away”.
The minister added: “A decision to sell a business is a decision that’s made at a point in time, not an ongoing process.”