| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:29 - Apr 13 with 1030 views | Guthrum |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 20:43 - Apr 12 by blueasfook |
Not sure what that is? For example the high quality steel used in submarine pressure hulls can no longer be sourced in the UK and has to be sourced from abroad. |
That's going to be a very specific variety of steel (particular chemical makeup, proportion of carbon, tempering and hardening processes). Probably somebody else's patent/protected brand, which is a different matter. |  |
|  |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:34 - Apr 13 with 1017 views | DJR |
The following is an interesting factor in the state of the UK steel industry.
"In September 2024, UK Steel [the representative body] revealed stats showing that that UK steel producers pay up to 50% more than competitors in France and Germany, adding ÂŁ37 million to UK steel electricity costs. The price disparity is predominantly driven by higher UK wholesale costs and partly greater network charges."
So as well as privatisation of steel not working, privatisation of energy appears to be the same. |  | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:39 - Apr 13 with 1000 views | DJR |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:14 - Apr 13 by Guthrum |
The key thing with Scunthorpe being that once the blast furnaces are allowed to go cold, they effectively can't be restarted. It's a resource gone forever, the only place in the UK currently where steel can be produced from raw iron ore (arc furnaces cannot do that). Hence the urgency to keep them operating, despite losses.
If we discard them, the country then has to subsist entirely upon imported slab steel. Probably from China. It's a Chinese company which owns Scunthorpe and wants to run it down. To paraphrase what British parliamentarians said during the debate, "Funny, that".
So, essentially, it's a strategic resource. Are we prepared to throw that away, at a time of increasing volatility in world trade? The fact that even the Green Party is in favour of preserving this very dirty process indicates how important everyone thinks it is (except the Conservatives, who don't want '80s/'90s privatisation to be seen as a mistake).
Who knows, with a bit of investment and marketing, perhaps those losses can be reduced? |
It's interesting that the direction of travel has changed as a result of Trump, and maybe it's just too late to do anything about it, unless a buyer (thin on the ground) comes along willing to carry on with the blast furnaces; Reynolds has said he would prefer nationalisation to be temporary.
https://britishsteel.co.uk/news/british-steel-today-unveils-125-billion-proposal
"British Steel today unveils ÂŁ1.25 billion proposal to decarbonise its operations"
It's perhaps also worth pointing out that raw steel itself relies on imports of iron ore, something we don't produce ourselves.
EDIT: I came across this in the Guardian, so maybe this is where we will end up.
The new legislation, approved by parliament on Saturday, will prevent mass redundancies and manage a transition from blast-furnace-produced steel to electric arc furnaces, which can run on renewable energy. [Post edited 13 Apr 9:54]
| | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:58 - Apr 13 with 940 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:34 - Apr 13 by DJR |
The following is an interesting factor in the state of the UK steel industry.
"In September 2024, UK Steel [the representative body] revealed stats showing that that UK steel producers pay up to 50% more than competitors in France and Germany, adding ÂŁ37 million to UK steel electricity costs. The price disparity is predominantly driven by higher UK wholesale costs and partly greater network charges."
So as well as privatisation of steel not working, privatisation of energy appears to be the same. |
Though worth noting most of the German energy network is also largely privatised. And due to their reliance on Russian gas they had the highest consumer energy cost in Europe at the peak of the crisis. There has been some moves to renationalise some of their energy network as a result of the energy crisis.
The key is the UK’s daft wholesale pricing structure, as well as moving away from the volatility of fossil fuel prices. The actual utilities make up less than 3pc of overall bills - its wholesale pricing that drives most of the cost. |  | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 10:14 - Apr 13 with 926 views | Ryorry |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:39 - Apr 13 by DJR |
It's interesting that the direction of travel has changed as a result of Trump, and maybe it's just too late to do anything about it, unless a buyer (thin on the ground) comes along willing to carry on with the blast furnaces; Reynolds has said he would prefer nationalisation to be temporary.
https://britishsteel.co.uk/news/british-steel-today-unveils-125-billion-proposal
"British Steel today unveils ÂŁ1.25 billion proposal to decarbonise its operations"
It's perhaps also worth pointing out that raw steel itself relies on imports of iron ore, something we don't produce ourselves.
EDIT: I came across this in the Guardian, so maybe this is where we will end up.
The new legislation, approved by parliament on Saturday, will prevent mass redundancies and manage a transition from blast-furnace-produced steel to electric arc furnaces, which can run on renewable energy. [Post edited 13 Apr 9:54]
|
That touches on an important point, ie that the eye-watering costs of running it are partly offset by the savings in unemployment benefits and other knock-on effects esp locally, that’d otherwise be incurred. [Post edited 13 Apr 10:16]
|  |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 10:23 - Apr 13 with 905 views | Guthrum |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:39 - Apr 13 by DJR |
It's interesting that the direction of travel has changed as a result of Trump, and maybe it's just too late to do anything about it, unless a buyer (thin on the ground) comes along willing to carry on with the blast furnaces; Reynolds has said he would prefer nationalisation to be temporary.
https://britishsteel.co.uk/news/british-steel-today-unveils-125-billion-proposal
"British Steel today unveils ÂŁ1.25 billion proposal to decarbonise its operations"
It's perhaps also worth pointing out that raw steel itself relies on imports of iron ore, something we don't produce ourselves.
EDIT: I came across this in the Guardian, so maybe this is where we will end up.
The new legislation, approved by parliament on Saturday, will prevent mass redundancies and manage a transition from blast-furnace-produced steel to electric arc furnaces, which can run on renewable energy. [Post edited 13 Apr 9:54]
|
We don't produce iron ore, but we could at a pinch.
Historically, electric arc systems struggled with producing steel to very high purity specifications (because they are essentially reprocessing scrap). However, this article suggests big strides are being made in overcoming that, which may eventually make blast furnaces unnecessary.
https://www.uksteel.org/electric-arc-furnaces-1 | |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 11:46 - Apr 13 with 842 views | Swansea_Blue |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 17:44 - Apr 12 by Mullet |
Reform already saying it was their idea apparently! |
The media are all over them this morning. Sickening. If the Greens got the same coverage for their equal number of MPs it might turn the dial a bit and we could have a population interested in making the UK a nicer place to live rather than frothing at the mouth over foreigners. |  |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 11:53 - Apr 13 with 837 views | OldFart71 |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 17:40 - Apr 12 by J2BLUE |
Not confirmed yet is it? Just in government control for now?
Hopefully it will be the start of nationalising the railways and water. |
Agree. We should never have privatised energy, water, railways etc. Greater Anglia is already in the process of being Government owned. All that happens with these companies is that they filter off the profits to shareholders and members of their boards whilst screwing their consumers for as much as possible and not updating their infrastructure leading to what we have with the water companies who pollute our rivers and then after sharing billions with shareholders go bankrupt and expect their paying customers to bail them out. | | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:02 - Apr 13 with 823 views | Swansea_Blue |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 09:34 - Apr 13 by DJR |
The following is an interesting factor in the state of the UK steel industry.
"In September 2024, UK Steel [the representative body] revealed stats showing that that UK steel producers pay up to 50% more than competitors in France and Germany, adding ÂŁ37 million to UK steel electricity costs. The price disparity is predominantly driven by higher UK wholesale costs and partly greater network charges."
So as well as privatisation of steel not working, privatisation of energy appears to be the same. |
You don’t have to dig very deeply to find where the money goes and why we’re being screwed over in the UK. For example, the power grid in the Scunthorpe area is run by Northern Powergrid, which is owned by Northern Powergrid Holdings Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy which itself is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is a US multinational holdings company led and majority owned by the American billionaire investor Warren Buffet. Other significant shareholders include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The electricity running through that grid is likely foreign owned too.
We’ve given away most of our assets. In return for investment of course, but still. What’s the saying? Privatise the profits and socialise the losses. | |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:54 - Apr 13 with 779 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:02 - Apr 13 by Swansea_Blue |
You don’t have to dig very deeply to find where the money goes and why we’re being screwed over in the UK. For example, the power grid in the Scunthorpe area is run by Northern Powergrid, which is owned by Northern Powergrid Holdings Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy which itself is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway is a US multinational holdings company led and majority owned by the American billionaire investor Warren Buffet. Other significant shareholders include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The electricity running through that grid is likely foreign owned too.
We’ve given away most of our assets. In return for investment of course, but still. What’s the saying? Privatise the profits and socialise the losses. |
I bet investors couldn’t believe their luck when they were offered the chance to buy all these legal monopolies… | | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:59 - Apr 13 with 771 views | bournemouthblue |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 17:46 - Apr 12 by Nthsuffolkblue |
How did they suggest paying for it as a matter of interest since they are a party of low taxation and low spend? |
Farage wouldn't admit to that number this morning, not that Labour would either
Reform championing Nationalisation is pretty rich, given their ideologies |  |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 13:03 - Apr 13 with 759 views | Pinewoodblue |
Think it would be say British Steel is in intensive care while they pray for a miracle cure. |  |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 19:08 - Apr 13 with 694 views | DJR |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 10:23 - Apr 13 by Guthrum |
We don't produce iron ore, but we could at a pinch.
Historically, electric arc systems struggled with producing steel to very high purity specifications (because they are essentially reprocessing scrap). However, this article suggests big strides are being made in overcoming that, which may eventually make blast furnaces unnecessary.
https://www.uksteel.org/electric-arc-furnaces-1 |
Yes, I'd read or heard something similar. | | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 19:20 - Apr 13 with 680 views | Pinewoodblue |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 19:08 - Apr 13 by DJR |
Yes, I'd read or heard something similar. |
Extract from an article in The Economist, posted today.*
Electric arc furnaces (EACs), using recycled scrap steel, can nowadays produce high-grade steels. EACs at Rotherham supply the steel for aircraft landing gear; those at Sheffield Forgemasters do so for nuclear submarines and nuclear power stations.
* no link as behind pay wall. | |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 20:24 - Apr 13 with 653 views | DJR |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:59 - Apr 13 by bournemouthblue |
Farage wouldn't admit to that number this morning, not that Labour would either
Reform championing Nationalisation is pretty rich, given their ideologies |
There is a mayoral election in Greater Lincolnshire in May, and I am sure their stance is heavily influenced by this. | | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 21:33 - Apr 13 with 635 views | Plums |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 20:24 - Apr 13 by DJR |
There is a mayoral election in Greater Lincolnshire in May, and I am sure their stance is heavily influenced by this. |
Yes, Andrea Jenkyns, the shining example of standards in public life is their candidate.
They deserve each other. |  |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 08:41 - Apr 14 with 522 views | soupytwist |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 20:43 - Apr 12 by blueasfook |
Not sure what that is? For example the high quality steel used in submarine pressure hulls can no longer be sourced in the UK and has to be sourced from abroad. |
We do already have a state-owned steel plant. And it makes stuff for submarines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Forgemasters# |  | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 10:16 - Apr 14 with 450 views | Ryorry |
Nice one Soupy, have a crouton! đź‘Ť | |
| |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:20 - Apr 14 with 382 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 12:59 - Apr 13 by bournemouthblue |
Farage wouldn't admit to that number this morning, not that Labour would either
Reform championing Nationalisation is pretty rich, given their ideologies |
Populists gonna populist! | | | |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 15:07 - Apr 14 with 323 views | stonojnr |
| UK steel industry to be re-nationalised on 20:37 - Apr 12 by Nthsuffolkblue |
And the arguments about the importance of access to our own steel? |
Ranked somewhere along the lines of the importance of access to our own coal and gas supplies to provide the energy to the steel plants I'd guess | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
