6. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Steel Industry

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:14 pm on 6 February 2019.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 4:14, 6 February 2019

Can I just being by saying I absolutely agree with you that we have the best steelworkers in the world here and they deserve the attention that we're giving them now? Because we're talking about a foundational industry for the UK economy, particularly for Wales, particularly for my region, and while we now recognise maybe the dangers of entire communities relying on one industry, such as in places like Port Talbot, contemplating the loss of production as collateral damage in a changing world is just simply not an option.

For me, I think the risks of steel dumping and not controlling controllable costs are the most clear and present dangers, followed by inertia or barriers that could affect the opportunity for Wales to carve out a space for itself in the fast-moving world of innovation. That's an aspect of Brexit that I think it would be a mistake to overlook at a time when the main story is tariffs. Here, as David mentioned, the effect of the country of origin classification for steel and steel products is a massive post-Brexit headache for which we need a cure before it infests the rest of the economy. And while US protectionism may have initially have been seen by workers as more of a threat to the production at the Ford plant in my region than Brexit, now with the UK steel industry so dependent on a flourishing automotive industry, can it really fight a war on two fronts? I think the UK Steel briefing paper, which had some courage today, is pretty clear about why a 'no deal' Brexit is bad news for steel.

Because the UK Government—you know, it's not responsible for China being able to produce steel at a price that's probably the lowest on the planet, I would imagine. So, I'm pleased that this debate isn't framed just in a simple, 'Let's get the UK Government' way. But I think the UK Government needs to understand as well that Welsh Conservatives, apart from expecting an exit agreement, a deal on that, expect trade deals as well to prevent unfair competition and any steel dumping here. Because Wales, as we heard, produces over half the UK's steel, and it's Welsh communities, therefore, that are the most vulnerable. 

The other controllable cost, of course, is energy, which David Rees also mentioned. But there's a serious question here about how to prioritise. I hope we all welcomed the UK Government's recent limitation on domestic energy charging—consumers must now be told where they can get the cheapest deals—and that happened more or less at the same time as every single one of us here in this Chamber was standing up and saying, 'Let's have a Swansea bay tidal lagoon', which I still think was a great idea, but, despite it's many, many benefits, what it didn't do was produce cheap electricity. The same points are hovering over Wylfa and, of course, Hinkley Point at the time. We're asking now for cheaper electricity for heavy industry; it blooming well needs it, but, with no control over oil prices, which affects fuel prices, how can we help the UK Government—[Interruption.]—just let me finish this—prioritise these competing calls on its energy policy?