The days of blast furnaces in Britain have come to an end (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Steel used in major infrastructure projects should be made in Britain, the minister responsible for the crisis-hit sector has declared as she prepares a £2.5billion strategy to put its dramatic decline into reverse.
Sarah Jones is alarmed that “only a third” of the steel used in the UK is made in this country. She wants to stop the industry “haemorrhaging” and return it to growth.
Intense international competition and high production costs have dealt the UK sector a hammer blow. Traditional steelmaking ended in Port Talbot, South Wales, in September when its last blast furnace closed.
In 2023, the UK produced just 0.3% of the world’s total steel – 5.6million tonnes compared with China’s one billion tonnes. Seven EU states, including Belgium, created more steel than the UK.
Steel minister Ms Jones said: “Only a third of the steel that we use in the UK currently is made in the UK. So we need to change that…
“And that’s what the steel strategy is about.”
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She is not nostalgic for the era of blast furnaces.
“The cost of producing steel is much higher because they are so inefficient,” she said. “Most countries in Europe and lots of other parts of the world have switched to electric arc furnaces which is better in terms of the climate but also massively more efficient – you can get more steel for less money.”
She hopes that more people will employed in the sector as it is revived.
Insisting there is the opportunity for growth, she said: “If you think about our ambitions for growth in the UK, whether it’s airports, data centres, 1.5million homes, green energy with all those wind turbines, manufacturing, electric vehicles – steel underpins all of those. We need to stop looking to the past with our steel industry and look to the future because it’s a bright future if we get this right.”
Adamant that the Government’s push for net zero carbon emissions is not the “enemy” of the sector, she said: “The offshore wind turbines are made from steel. The green energy revolution in the UK will drive our demand for steel.”
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Charlotte Brumpton-Childs of the GMB trade union said: “UK produced steel is vital for jobs, local communities and our national security. Right now, high energy prices and the mechanism for dealing with carbon are putting our domestic industry at risk.
“The £3billion pledge to decarbonise steel and the new Steel Council are good news, but without all parts of Government working together, we risk sucking in more imports of dirty, carbon loaded steel from abroad – and that’s bad for Britain.”
But Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said: “To save British steel, we must scrap the senseless obsession with net zero and harness our natural resources – something Reform UK is fully committed to delivering.”