Agenda item

UK Steel Industry (1)

It was moved by Councillor Terry Fox, seconded by Councillor Tony Downing, that this Council

(a)       notes with sadness the announcement of the closure of the Redcar blast furnace and the news that Tata Steel is to cut 1,200 jobs across the UK, including many within Sheffield City Region;

(b)       further notes:

(i)        the huge contribution the steel industry makes to the UK economy, employing 34,500 people across the sector and countless more in supply chains, and achieving exports worth £6bn in 2014;

(ii)       the challenging global steel market, in particular an over-supply of steel on the international market, which has pushed prices down; and

(iii)      that UK Steel, trade unions and Members of Parliament have been calling for months for the Government to act to protect the industry;

(c)        condemns the Government for their inaction and their willingness to let British industry bear the brunt of global economic headwinds without protection;

(d)       believes the Government’s inaction shows they lack an industrial strategy and have no interest in supporting strategic national industries like steel; and

(e)       calls on the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to intervene directly to save steel plants at risk of closure in the short term, and to develop an active industrial strategy to support the UK steel industry over the long term.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Andrew Sangar, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words.

(a)        notes the loss of over 4,000 jobs in the steel industry during this year, most recently due to cuts from Tata Steel, which axed 1,200 jobs last week, including 550 in South Yorkshire, and the closure of the SSI plant in Redcar which meant 1,700 job losses;

(b)        notes the UK steel industry is in crisis due to a number of factors, including the influx of cheap steel from China, rising energy costs, and a strong pound;

(c)         notes the British steel industry’s close relationship with Sheffield, renowned as the ‘Steel City’ due to its historic role in the development of the manufacturing of steel, and that jobs in the steel industry are still important to the City Region;

(d)        notes that during the Coalition, the Government got permission from the European Commission to compensate steel companies for high energy costs, and further notes the comments of the former Business Secretary, Vince Cable, on 21st October 2015 that ‘The Treasury is sitting on [this] money.’;

(e)        believes that if the UK is to maintain its strategic capacity to manufacture steel, the Government must act fast;

(f)         regrets the lack of action by the Government in recent months and believes that the recent announcement of a £3 million contribution towards re-training workers laid off by Tata Steel in Scunthorpe and £80 million towards redundancy and re-training for steel workers in Redcar is tokenistic and will do nothing to prevent further closures;

(g)        believes that Labour Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP’s proposal to nationalise the steel industry is ideological, irresponsible and unnecessary, and that efforts to help the steel industry should be focussed on levelling the playing field for the UK steel industry to compete internationally;

(h)       calls on the Government to:-

(i)       use the UK’s diplomatic relationship with China to address the issue of over production of steel; and

(ii)      pass on the money agreed with the European Commission to compensate steel companies for high energy costs to alleviate some of the pressure on the industry; and

(i)        requests that a copy of this motion be forwarded to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

Following a Right of Reply by Councillor Terry Fox, the original Motion was put to the vote and carried, as follows:-