MPs launch inquiry into future of Liberty Steel
AN INQUIRY into the future of one of Newport’s largest employers, Liberty Steel, has been launched as part of a wider look at the state of the steel industry in the UK.
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee has announced the move, focusing on Liberty Steel in particular due to the company’s ongoing struggle to survive.
“We are keen to examine some of the immediate challenges facing the UK steel industry, including at Liberty Steel, and to consider questions around decarbonisation and the long-term viability of the sector,” said Labour MP Darren Jones, who chairs the BEIS Select Committee, as quoted by The Mirror.
“If we consider steel to be a foundation industry, what can the Government do regarding industrial policy to help build a financially and environmentally sustainable steel industry in the UK?
“This episode has also raised a catalogue of concerns relating to corporate governance, audit and supplychain finance.
“As a committee, we will want to examine whether reform is needed in these areas and, additionally, access to and use of taxpayers’ money, including Covid-related support, and whether adequate checks and balances were put in place in return for support from government.”
Liberty Steel currently employs 136 people at its Newport site and another 50 people at its site in Tredegar, but its future has looked uncertain following the announcement last month that the company’s main lender Greensill Capital had collapsed.
Reacting to the inquiry’s announcement, Newport East MP Jessica Morden said: “I welcome the BEIS Select Committee inquiry both in light of the ongoing situation at Liberty which is of concern to constituents of mine, and the longerterm challenges the industry faces; including from sky-high industrial energy costs and procurement.”
She added: “Steel should be at the heart of a forward-looking industrial strategy as we move out of the pandemic.”
Across the UK, around 5,000 jobs at 11 sites are currently at risk.
At the end of March, the company’s founder Sanjeev Gupta wrote to the UK Government asking for £170m in support. However, this request was rejected, with UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng claiming it wouldn’t be the correct decision for UK taxpayers.
However, Mr Kwarteng added that “all options at the moment are on the table” in regards to saving the company.
Across the UK, the steel industry is currently faced with high energy costs and competition from overseas rivals.
It also faces the enormous challenge of decarbonisation, with the Welsh Government legally committing itself to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Currently, the steel industry is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in regards to that target, accounting for a significant percentage of the nation’s CO2 emissions.