The steel safeguards are a vital mechanism to protect our industry from import surges and create the environment for the huge investments we desperately need. Last year the government rightly acted to extend the steel safeguards. It was the right decision then, and extending the safeguards is the right decision to take now.
Government must make the right call because to give up our steel safeguards, whilst the EU and the US are maintaining theirs, would be both devastating and unforgiveable. Opening the floodgates to a rush of cheap, unfairly traded and dirty imports, would threaten thousands of jobs and the future for steel communities across the country.
Steelworkers are asking why, when the WTO has approved the EU’s extension of their own safeguards, is time being wasted debating whether our safeguards are legal? Brexit was supposed to give government more freedom to support British workers and strategic industries, and failing to act decisively now would be inexplicable.
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© Community Trade Union 2023