Scunthorpe steelworks debacle must be a wake-up call for Labour & an end to Miliband’s eco-madness
Lack of steel
LABOUR’S last-minute intervention may have saved the Scunthorpe steelworks and thousands of jobs for now.
It has also ensured Britain has avoided the humiliation of suddenly becoming the only G7 country without the ability to make its own vital virgin steel.
But what is the Government going to do about British Steel’s massive daily losses of £700,000?
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds — a man with zero experience of business who spent years saying he had been a solicitor when he hadn’t — is now in charge of its perilous future.
Whatever his skills, the truth is he cannot do anything to protect taxpayers from coughing up hundreds of millions of pounds to keep the plant going.
Not when the Government remains wilfully determined to press ahead with Net Zero madness and saddle the UK with the highest energy costs in the world.
Like most industries, British Steel cannot hope to compete globally while bearing such massive costs.
And how embarrassing is it that the Royal Navy remains on standby to escort Japanese coal bound for Scunthorpe just months after Ed Miliband bragged about banning new coal mines in this country for climate change reasons.
Keir Starmer likes to describe himself as a pragmatist.
So let the Scunthorpe debacle be a wake-up call for his Government.
And a turning point which finally signals an end to Miliband’s eco-madness.
Den of spies
MINISTERS like to talk tough on tackling underhand Chinese tactics aimed at destroying our steel industry.
So why is the Government seemingly so relaxed about allowing China a super embassy crawling with spies in the heart of London?
Even the Tories — who spent years sucking up to China on trade — blocked the plans on security grounds
Yet Rachel Reeves wants it to go ahead in return for a paltry £700million deal with Beijing.
Is that really worth the risk, Chancellor?
Non-stop tide
IT’S been four months since Labour announced it was planning tough sanctions against smuggler gangs.
In that time 8,000 illegal migrants have arrived — including 656 on Saturday alone — which is up 46 per cent on last year.
What the numbers will be by mid-summer is anyone’s guess.
Do ministers really think a clampdown on dinghy suppliers will make any meaningful difference?
Sanctions without deterrent are surely doomed to fail.