Thank you for contacting me about the UK steel industry.
I fully recognise that the situation facing the people across communities in the UK where the local economy is very focused on steel production is uncertain and difficult. I also believe that steel manufacturing is an important national asset.
The steel industry across the UK and indeed Europe is facing very challenging economic conditions: there is overproduction across the world and the price of some steel has almost halved over the past year alone. While the Government cannot fix the price of steel, halt global overproduction or fix currency rates, it is doing all it can to help the industry and workers.
The Government has paid steelmakers over £60 million in compensation for energy costs and has changed public procurement rules to help steel suppliers compete on a level playing field with international suppliers for major projects.
I also welcome that the Government has recently announced that it will be exempting eligible Energy Intensive Industries, including steel, from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and Small Feed-in-Tariffs. This will enable steelmakers to keep their bills down, keep them competitive, keep them here and also give certainty for future investment decisions. The steel industry's request for flexibility over Industrial Emissions Directive exemptions has also been secured, saving the industry millions of pounds of unnecessary expenditure by offering steel companies more time to comply with this European legislation.
While there is no straightforward solution to any of the complex issues involved, the Government assures me it has no intention of simply standing aside. I welcome its actions to support communities and the industry.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
