Steel ‘likely to die’, MPs told

STEEL bosses compared the crisisstricken industry with a patient on an operating table ‘likely to die’ as they gave evidence to MPs yesterday, writes Laura Chesters.

During a Treasury Select Committee hearing, the industry demanded urgent help from the Government and warned a fifth of its workforce was under threat.

UK Steel director Gareth Stace called on the Government to act on its demands in ‘weeks not months’.

Thousands of job cuts have been announced in the past month by Tata Steel in Scunthorpe and Scotland, the collapse of SSI UK in Redcar in Teesside, as well as the administration of Midlands-based Caparo Industries.

Cheap imports from China and high energy costs in the UK have crippled the industry in the face of falling global steel prices. Stace told MPs: ‘If we were a patient on an operating table, we are bleeding very quickly. And we are likely to die on that table.’

Stace reiterated five issues the industry needs the Government to act on, including energy costs, business rates, anti-dumping measures and supporting locally-provided steel for construction projects.

Just as the committee hearing got under way, the Business Department issued a statement to say it had bought more time on an European Union emissions ruling.

Stace told the select committee that the emissions directive was the easiest of five measures the industry wanted action on.

Anna Soubry, minister for small business, industry and enterprise, said it was ensuring government infrastructure projects use UK steel.