LABOUR made a huge song and dance about taking over British Steel in Scunthorpe.
One song in particular came to mind: XTC’s Making Plans for Nigel.
The lyrics tell of a young boy, the titular Nigel, whose parents have mapped out his whole life for him: “He has his future in British Steel.”
XTC’s protagonist was doomed – in the 20 years after the song’s release, 276,000 jobs were lost in the steel industry. The star in the new, ongoing story of British Steel is Nigel Farage – and his future is as good as sealed, or so it would seem right now.
Labour took the dramatic step of recalling Parliament to sit on a Saturday. Outside of the great Brexit wars, this was a step not taken since the invasion of the Falkland Islands.
The 11th-hour nature of the intervention has led to allegations that Labour were sleeping on the job, but for now, at least, Scunthorpe seems to have narrowly escaped the fate of the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales.
The first blast furnace there closed on Friday, July 5 – the day after Labour’s landslide victory at the General Election.
Perhaps it was too late to save the plant and Labour have certainly argued the case. They were also roundly mocked for launching a £3 million mental health fund to help people cope with losing their well-paid and previously secure jobs.
Thus came to an end around 100 years of virgin steel-making in the town.
During the debate on Labour’s plans to take over the Scunthorpe site, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds made clear his distaste for nationalisation on principle, saying that when the Tories had been negotiating what they insist was a “functioning commercial deal”, he flew to meet Port Talbot’s Indian owners in both Switzerland and Mumbai to get a better deal.
When one was not forthcoming, Labour allowed the site to close. Taking the reins in Scunthorpe – still short of nationalisation – was only a last resort and it was only thinkable in the direst of circumstances. Port Talbot had the poor fortune of being the UK’s second-last steelworks, not its last.
That is the story that Reform will tell in Wales and it is one they will tell in Luton, where 120 years of car manufacture ended last month with the closure of Vauxhall’s factory in the town.
Perhaps this story will be told to the voters of Redcar, where many will remember Labour sending in CV coaches to workers laid off when nearly 2000 workers were laid off when part of the Teesside Cast Products plant was mothballed back in 2010.
It may also be one they tell in Grangemouth, where Labour have refused to nationalise Scotland’s last remaining oil refinery.
In Luton, Port Talbot and Grangemouth, Labour ministers have insisted, the circumstances are different, their hands are tied. They have watched on as their constituents sign on.
Yet the events of Saturday tell a different story. It was seven hours from the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill being introduced to the Commons at 11am from it receiving Royal Asset that evening. Parliament was seen as the almighty engine of action it can be, when ministers want it.
Voters want politicians to get things done. In Farage, because of his unfiltered personal image, they see a man who will get things done – never mind the scant evidence for this.
Farage’s one-time best pal Donald Trump (above) is also a man who speaks his mind – and he certainly gets things done. His rapid signing of executive orders – renaming the Gulf of Mexico, banning transgender women from sports – was as grotesque as it was intoxicating.
Put simply, voters don’t care about the ins and outs of Labour’s industrial strategy or the sanctity of Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules; they just want to keep their jobs and not see their communities thrown on the scrapheap.
Farage will promise them the world while Labour drone on about transition funds and white papers. Nigel is happy in his world.
