Shotton Steelworks: 125th Anniversary — House of Commons, 2021-12-01
Topic: Mixed Topics
Lee Benjamin Rowley (Conservative, Centre-right): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to speak this evening. I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami); I congratulate him on securing this very important debate for him and his constituents. It is important that we celebrate this extremely important milestone for his constituency and for north Wales in general, so I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate and respond on behalf of the Government I confess that I do not know a huge amount about Shotton steelworks—I come from a very different part of the country—but it has been very helpful to hear all the history that the right hon. Member has outlined so clearly and cogently in the past 20 minutes or so. From the little I do know, I know that there are many reasons to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Shotton Works. One reason is the history that he went through; it has been fascinating to hear about the contribution that Shotton has made for so long, the deeply embedded history within the community and the opportunities that Shotton has had over a century and a quarter. Its contribution over such a long time includes producing millions of tonnes of steel sheet to build shelters for the population in the second world war, for example The hon. Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden) highlighted the interaction of steelworks, across Wales and more broadly. Shortly after being appointed Minister for industry, I had the privilege of visiting Tata’s plant at Port Talbot. It was an extremely interesting and useful visit: I was impressed by the scale of the plant and the level of integration of systems. I have not yet had the opportunity to go to Shotton, but I look forward to doing so. I am aware that Shotton steel can be seen in a huge number of places, from IKEA stores to Jaguar Land Rover showrooms and even the Old Trafford stadium. The sculpture commissioned to mark the anniversary showcases the best of the plant’s products and will be a proud reminder of this milestone In highlighting the constant evolution and innovation of the Shotton plant, I pay tribute to the very regular discussions about Shotton over so many decades in this place, not least because of the contributions from the right hon. Member for Alyn and Deeside as its constituency Member of Parliament since 2001. He mentioned his predecessor, Barry Jones, who was just as assiduous a contributor on the issue; Barry Jones’s predecessor, Eirene White, was talking back in 1954 about how Shotton steelworks had secured "a…record in steel production."—[Official Report, 24 November 1954; Vol. 533, c. 1337.] It was a pleasure to work through Hansard for a little while this afternoon to understand the history of Shotton’s relation to this place. I think it was talked about as long ago as November 1948, when there was a big discussion about whether iron ore should have been brought over from Birkenhead or sourced from elsewhere I know, on a personal level, how important this is to the right hon. Gentleman’s constituency. My own constituency is not particularly steel-based, although there is plenty of steel nearby, but it has a proud industrial heritage and a proud industrial past, and is making its way towards the coming decades of the new industry that the right hon. Gentleman is so keen on. Speaking as the Member of Parliament for North East Derbyshire as well as the Minister for industry, I know how important Sheffield steel is to local communities, and I know that it has been integrated in the histories of those communities. I have no doubt that that applies as much to steel in Wales as it does to steel in Sheffield My constituency has faced similar challenges. We had a steelworks back in the 1870s, a little before the right hon. Gentleman’s steelworks began, but it closed overnight in 1883, and all the activity was moved up to Cumbria. Although it was on a very small scale and long before my time, I am well aware of the huge interaction involved, and of the huge importance of the steelworks industry in general to local communities I applaud Shotton’s commitment to becoming carbon-neutral by 2040, and the efforts that have been made so far. For the past 15 years the site has run a scheme offering to offset customers’ carbon emissions, and as a result more than 130,000 tonnes have been offset via investment in clean energy projects in the developing world. I also pay tribute to its work with Natural Resources Wales to create bird habitats: I understand that 20,000 tern chicks have flown from the breeding grounds created in the lagoons. That is a brilliant example of the way in which industry and nature can co-exist I know how important Shotton and its history are to the right hon. Gentleman’s constituents, but I also know that we have the shared aim of securing the future of steelmaking in this country, particularly in the areas where it has a history and has thrived for so long. Although he and I may not agree on every element of the speech he has made tonight, I know that how assiduous he is, and how keen he is to see more progress and improvement. Let me now deal with a few of his points, in the spirit of constructiveness that has been set by the debate I recognise the challenges that the right hon. Gentleman has identified in suggesting that the Government are not taking steel seriously, but I would urge some caution. While there is no doubt that challenges will be coming our way in the next few decades, I believe that for a number of years the Government have demonstrated their willingness to support the UK industry where necessary to maintain its resilience. Mention has already been made of the subsidies that have been provided to support electricity for the steel industry, and for other energy-intensive industries, over the past decade or so. The industrial energy transformation fund is helping to transform steelmaking in Wales, and a project is going on there right now. The net zero hydrogen fund is coming, and funds are currently in place for the Materials Processing Institute to increase efficiency, reduce emissions and improve competitiveness I accept that gas prices are high at the moment: there can be no argument about that. They are volatile, and have been for some months. At some points in 2020, they were low in relation to where they have been historically, but they are now relatively high. However, I hope that the support that we have provided for energy-intensive industries since 2013 has mitigated that to some extent, and we have confirmed that it will continue.