Steel Reforged - Assistant General Secretary Blog

In a new blog, Our Assistant General Secretary Alasdair McDiarmid outlines the importance of our Steel Reforged report.

“In July 2020, Community launched the ‘Britain, We Need Our Steel’ campaign. Five years on, the principle at the heart of that campaign remains just as prescient: that Britain’s economic future, defence capabilities and environmental ambitions are inextricably tied to the fortunes of our steel industry.

“Over the last five years we’ve seen ample evidence of the world becoming a more dangerous and unpredictable place: from the economic aftershocks of the pandemic, to Russia’s barbaric war in Ukraine, and the increasingly visible and deadly effects of climate change at home and overseas.

“What we hadn’t seen – at least until last Summer – was a UK Government that understood the link between the historic challenges we face and the strength of our industrial base.

“Yet, as we’ve continued to emphasise – often to the point of painful but wholly necessary repetition – you can’t build a greener economy without a healthy steel industry. Whether we’re making wind turbines, electric vehicles or energy-efficient buildings – steel is the key ingredient.

“And we should be producing that steel here in the UK – not importing it from heavy-polluting and potentially hostile countries. The same is especially true for the specialist steel we need for our critical defence sector.

“You also can’t build a truly successful British economy without an industry like steel which supports well-paying jobs outside of London and the South East, both directly and through our extensive regional supply chains.

“Thankfully, after a decade of neglect, we now have a UK Government that is committed to putting the steel sector where it belongs: at the centre of a forward-looking industrial strategy which looks to the 2030s and beyond. The £2.5 billion the Government has committed to greening our steel industry can be a gamechanger, as can the steel strategy due to be rolled out this year.

“The country now has a generational opportunity to give our steel sector the vote of confidence it needs and deserves. It’s imperative that the government seizes the moment and delivers its commitments in full.

“That also means that the upcoming Steel Strategy should be a cross-departmental, multi-discipline project involving all of government. After all, steel touches almost every area of public life: our hospitals, our transport networks, our military resources, and, of course, our energy infrastructure and carbon footprint.

“No one is pretending that the road ahead will be easy. The situation the Government has inherited means that there are huge pressures on public finances, and the steel sector itself has gone through extremely tough times. We saw this first-hand with the recent devastating job losses at Tata in South Wales, and there’s no doubt that serious challenges lie ahead.

“The fact that steel produced in Britain now only accounts for 32% of the UK’s steel market share – with 68% supplied by imports – tells its own unacceptable story. If we do nothing, there is still a real risk that the UK could become the only G7 country without domestic steelmaking capacity.

“While the outlook is challenging, it’s vital that we face the future with optimism and confidence, focusing on the very real potential for growth, investment and good-quality job creation across our steel industry.

“Global and domestic demand for steel is rising, and we are blessed with world-class R&D facilities and a highly-skilled steel workforce. Decarbonisation – if done in the right way – also brings significant opportunities to grow the industry, harnessing the power of green technologies to bring new investment and rebuild our market share.

“Our new report touches on all these challenges and opportunities, and assesses where our steel sector is now and what it could become with the right vision and the backing of our Labour Government.

“The report, informed by contributions from steelworkers and key stakeholders, sets out a series of practical and achievable policy recommendations on issues including energy prices; procurement; trade defences; and corporate governance. It also lays out the case for investment in steel plate and a direct reduced iron (DRI) plant as part a just transition to green steelmaking.

“We hope the insights and recommendations contained in the report will serve to inform the development of the Government’s Steel Strategy. We also hope the report supports the case for government taking a bold and ambitious approach that recognises steel’s place as an essential strategic industry.

“This is a crucial moment for steelmaking in this country, and we must ask ourselves the fundamental question of whether we want to be country that produces things, or a country that imports them. We choose the former.

“The slogan our union adopted in 2020 rings just as true in 2025: Britain, We Need Our Steel.“