The UK government’s focus on decarbonisation in the steel industry was sharply criticised in a debate in the House of Commons.
Richard Tice, representing Reform UK, accused the government of harming the domestic steel industry by prioritising green initiatives over maintaining essential production capacity.
Tice argued that the government’s “obsession with net zero” was leading to the removal of blast furnaces by British Steel and Tata, which he claimed was weakening the UK’s ability to produce primary steel.
“That obsession is killing our steel industry and steel jobs,” he stated, adding that the majority of new steel capacity worldwide is being developed in Asia using traditional blast furnaces.
Tice further questioned whether government subsidies, such as the £500 million earmarked for Tata Steel, were effectively tied to outcomes, specifically the construction of electric arc furnaces. “Will the Minister guarantee that if Tata is subsidised with more than £500 million to produce new electric arc furnaces, the money will be linked to the construction?” he asked, expressing concerns over accountability and transparency.
Responding to the criticism, Sarah Jones, Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, defended the government’s strategy, mentioning the increasing market demand for green steel.
“The market and big companies are now saying to us, ‘We want to buy green steel.’ That is what they are demanding and what we will produce,” she said.
Jones explained that the government’s investment through the National Wealth Fund is intended to develop a competitive steel strategy that will not only meet market demands but also create well-paid jobs in the emerging green industries. She cautioned, “If we fall behind, others will come before us and take our jobs.”
The defence sector also featured prominently in the debate, with Labour MP Derek Twigg stressing the critical role of UK steel in defence manufacturing. Twigg said, “The defence industry manufacturing base is, of course, vital to this country, not least in the engineering jobs it provides. We know that steel is crucial to building armoured vehicles and ships, for instance. It is very important that we have a regular and guaranteed supply of steel, and we want to see more UK steel used in defence manufacturing.”
In response, Jones echoed the importance of steel for the defence sector, confirming that her department is working closely with the Ministry of Defence to ensure as much of the defence supply chain as possible remains within the UK.
Is it more efficient because it uses eletric or does it have a better output? Or is it as the former mentioned just becuase it is electric and they want “green” has more disadvantages that advantages compared to blast and just demand it becuase think its green? I see they have adopted b.s green marketing ‘Green Steel’ like hs2’s green tunnels, which are just tunnels.
In principle it is more efficient as almost all of the energy ends up in the steel. The problem is the energy is expensive and not as flexible as gas or coke. I’m not a big fan of this as I think it is stupid to rush this and it would better to focus on getting electricity prices down ahead of demand. The other issue here is that you can’t switch off a furnace at peak times – you can stop charging it with new materials and let it essentially idle but running down a furnace is very expensive and… Read more »
Yep is a bit cart before the horse, logically get electricity price down first before insisting industry switches. I worked in an iron foundry years ago and we had induction furnesses but load shedding planning was a nightmare and lead to inefficient production runs at times. Also in the case of defence steel it’s the government that’s the customer in the end so they can decide if they want non green steel. Suspect Russia China and Irans defence procurement doesn’t specify green steel 🙂 Problem we have with politicians making these decisions is most of them have never been in… Read more »
‘Never been in business so are pretty clueless’.
The bill board for Labour; they are as illiterate economically and industrially as most 7 year olds.
The main reason it is more efficient is because it starts with scrap steel, whereas a blast furnace starts with iron ore, coke and limestone. Electric arc furnaces do recycling not production of new iron and steel.
Yep once Port Talbot & Shefield close their furnaces we lose our capability to produce virgin steel. I’m sure India and China will love that- as they both continue to use coal to power theirs. Although I’m not sure if theres another ‘green’ option that will allow virgin steel to be created- that maybe Germany are following?? I thought (in their pre election ‘blurb’) Labour asked Tata to hold fire (no pun intended) on their decision to close Port Talbot furnaces as they ‘would be able to offer them a better deal once in power’ – not sure what came… Read more »
Greensteel prospectus “In Czech Republic we plan to replace four existing tandem furnaces at Liberty Ostrava with two state of the art hybrid furnaces which will allow the facility to vary the mix of liquid metal & scrap steel used in the steel making process. These furnaces are expected to reduce Scope 1 emissions by 50% by 2026”. There is a video on youtube of a new virgin steelmaking process that still uses coal, but recycles the gas at each stage so emissions are greatly reduced. I cannot remember the name of it. Point being you can make virgin (with… Read more »
It is in theory a more efficient process as more of the energy goes into heating the metal, but electricity is more expensive in the first place, and obviously the big issue is they just recycle existing steel, they are not capable of turning iron ore into steel, which only the old blast funaces can do. So a big % of the ‘green-ness’ is that fact that someone else already burned the coal.
Hypocrisy is the Labour watchword. They rely on cheap labour and slavery from the third world for everything. Chief reason they allow millions into the country to destroy the future of British people.
Not sure if you’re joking, but labour have been in power like 4 months. The Conservative party is the one who spent the last 14 years in charge letting millions of migrants in, which keeps salaries low and the economy going when you’ve done nothing else to support/grow it.
Well tbh it was Blair that instgated this policy.
It was his avowed intention to allow & encourage cheap labour in from the EU in order to reduce wages and the requirement to develop in house skills.
So the blame for that particular ethos (along with many other equally detrimental) lies firmly at his subversive open door.
Isnt it recycling old steel? Steel made from ore is no longer possible as I understand it. Most recycling of steel occurs in India from scrapping ships etc.and we have no facility for this primary function.
Green madness. Far better to have a vibrant UK Steel industry than export our industry and everything that goes with it to the Far East. The Best Place for this Give Away Green Government (GAGG) is for it to be Exported as Far East and away from Britain as we can manage. In 5 years they will have destroyed many of our key jobs, businesses and industry with their smug woke ideology.
“The market and big companies are now saying to us, ‘We want to buy green steel.”
No they’re not, they’re asking for good quality steel, produced as cheaply as reasonably possible.