Government urged to buy British by steel producers

The UK steel industry is calling on the government to change public procurement guidelines to maximise supply opportunities for British producers.

In the manifesto, ‘A New Deal for Steel’, trade body UK Steel has urged the government to use its power as the largest investor in UK construction and infrastructure projects, and the biggest single purchaser of steel.

The government’s procurement decisions are a hugely powerful policy tool, it said.

The industry employs tens of thousands of people in the UK and the government should look to a future where a modern, high-value and low-carbon steel industry prospers and contributes to the UK economy, the manifesto stated.

As part of its actions to secure the industry’s future, the government needs to maximise the levels of UK steel purchased for publicly funded infrastructure projects.

In 2017/2018, the UK government procured 43% of its steel from the UK, 42% from outside the UK and 15% came from an unknown origin. UK Steel said while this is a positive benchmark, it demonstrated room for improvement.

Grace Skelton, UK Steel Senior Policy Adviser said: “Government infrastructure projects will require an estimated 3.76 million tonnes of steel in the coming years – the use of UK produced steel for these projects would boost our economy by £2.7bn and provide over 6,600 jobs.”

She added: “Whatever the outcome of Brexit, it is essential that government uses the new political and regulatory freedom afforded to it to back British industry, particularly when it comes to these big-ticket government contracts.”