Ian Lavery MP column: Public ownership of the vital economic assets is essential

Emergency laws were required to preserve 2,500 jobs and to preserve the last two blast furnaces in the UK.

The recent history of privatised British Steel is a good example of why the Thatcher Government’s privatisations were so very wrong.

It was obvious to many at the time that once in the private sector, the need for shareholders’ profits would be put before the the UK’s national interests.

Moreover, it was predictable even then that vital sectors of our economy would end up being owned by foreign corporations over which the UK Government would have little influence.

British Steel in Scunthorpe has since 2020 been owned by the Chinese Jingye Corporation. Jingye says the blast furnaces, needed for making grades of steel used in the defence and aerospace sectors, are uneconomic.

It planned to turn them off immediately and to import the specialist steel from its base in China, hardly the most secure source.

Once the furnaces had been turned off they could not be restarted, leaving the UK vulnerable. The Government stepped in to save the furnaces by taking control of them with only days to spare.

The best means of keeping British Steel secure is to return it back fully into public ownership. The same is true for many other sectors on which we all depend such as water, energy, etc.

We, the people, could own them together in a modern, democratic, less centralised manner than before, making them responsive to our priorities and more affordable.

They could be managed by boards on which representatives of unions, consumers and communities could sit with real power, with public good being put before private profit.

If we demand it, the British Steel crisis could be the start of something truly transformative.

Residents in the Blyth and Ashington constituency can contact my office by calling 01670 852494 or emailing [email protected] and there are also regular updates that are posted on my Facebook page (Ian Lavery MP).