Scunthorpe has provided the platform for Labour’s pledge to invest alongside the steel industry in green technology and innovation.
Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer visited British Steel, where he committed to supporting the foundation industry should his party sweep to power in the next general election. It comes a month after Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch's visit.
The North Lincolnshire town was a high profile red wall loss for Labour in the 2019 vote, with Holly Mumby-Croft taking the seat. She has made support of the steelworks' return to prosperity a major priority, fighting to secure trade safeguarding extensions in her time in Westminster.
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Sir Keir said “the UK is becoming a passive bystander in a global race for the jobs and industries of the future” under the cuttent government.
Outlining Labour’s long-term plan to drive innovation, pledges were made to match-fund investments in technologies including hydrogen and electric arc furnace technology, “to secure this vital UK industry, rebuild our industrial strength, and turbocharge an expansion of skilled jobs”.
Labour’s plans for cheap, clean home-grown power will also drive the long-term competitiveness for UK steel, he added, driving down the costs that have blighted the competitiveness of British firms compared to European peers like France and Germany. Sir Keir sees acceleration of offshore wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen generating demand for millions of tonnes of UK steel.
And he slammed the government’s failure to secure the long-term future of UK steel, with negotiations on a support package to protect against soaring energy and carbon prices still ongoing.
Coke ovens are in the process of being closed, although a threatened 250 job losses have been averted as positions were filled elsewhere on the sprawling Chinese-owned plant.
“The Tories’ lack of industrial strategy has left the sector in a vicious cycle of crisis and bailout,” he claimed, stating that 11,000 jobs have been lost from energy intensive industries since 2015. Labour compares the Conservative government’s inaction with competitors like France, Germany and the US race, who are leading the global race for green steel jobs, with long-term programmes of investment and support.
Labour’s investment plan for UK steel will be underpinned by an industrial strategy, which Sir Keir said will “provide the long term stability and certainty that business and industry are crying out for”.
Sir Keir said: “Steel is integral to a modern economy, and my Labour government will back it, secure it, and grow it, creating high paying, productive jobs in communities all over the country, for generations. Through our Green Prosperity Plan, we will invest alongside industry in technology and innovation, as well as increasing demand for UK steel from our plan to build turbines, railways, and carbon capture infrastructure.
“In the last 13 years the Tories’ complacency and inaction has led to a self-defeating cycle of crisis and bailout, failing workers, industry, and the taxpayer.
“Securing investment in steel will create a virtuous circle of cheaper infrastructure, jobs, thriving industry, and economic growth. Labour will get on with it.”
Ahead of his visit, he also accused the Prime Minister of acting like a “passive bystander” when it comes to securing international investment in industries like steel that can support business and secure jobs.
Referring to Mr Sunak’s visit to the USA, Sir Keir said: “The Prime Minister is impotently asking the President to open up to UK business, but those asks aren’t underpinned by any sense of a plan for UK industry.
“The United States’ ground-breaking legislation has created more jobs in seven months than the UK has in seven years. The Conservative response is to criticise it from the side lines, then ask for a piece of the pie, woefully exposing their lack of plan.
“The UK is becoming a passive bystander in a global race for the jobs and industries of the future. Labour will pull all levers needed to drive forward jobs and growth in Britain. We’ll invest to rebuild Britain’s industrial strength. We’ll harness the ambition and hunger of British business, the skills and talents of our workers, and create tens of thousands of high skilled jobs, growing vibrant economies in all parts of the UK.
“The Tories aren’t on the pitch, leaving Britain in the changing room.”
Mr Sunak’s visit has seen a £180 million green hydrogen production investment emerge on the Humber, with Meld Energy planning for a 100MW facility at Saltend.
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