Re/ The Uk's Steel Industry & Many More

[TWR]

Has this Government and previous Idiots sold this country out?

[fiction-factory]

The government doesn't own the steel industry. For various reasons it's not a market where major countries can compete with those overseas companies that sell steel at well below the cost we can produce it at

[TWR]

Again, has the Gov or previous Gov sold this country's Steel works out?

[fiction-factory]

Selling it off was probably a good move- I don't think the government could afford to run/subsidise a business losing so much money

[Togo]

It was decided long ago that all European steel would be manufactured in the Rhur. This is only another step towards that aim and a one party state.

[TonyV]

There is no manufacturing left just some assembly

[jackthehat]

As the government doesn't own the steel industry (F-F has already said this) how can they have 'sold it out'?

[Islay]

Port Talbot alone is losing 1 million a day - so if the government still owned this would you be happy at this loss?

[Baldric]

And again, how can the Government sell what they have never owned?

[fiction-factory]

Maybe TWR is referring back to British Steel Corporation which was sold off in 1988

[Baldric]

Both India and China produce loads of Steel a lot cheaper than we can make it.
The decision on the future of our Steelworks is being made in India.
Where the owners of the UK Plants are resident.
Doesn't look good, does it?

[EDDIE51]

You have to think 'How long can it last when the Steel plant is losing over £1,000,000 a day!!!
There is NO possibility of the price of Steel going up to a level where we can produce it in the UK at even a ' break even' price in the foreseeable future.
We 'sold out' years ago, we sold the entire UK Steel industry to the Indian company Tata at under cost price !!!! Now they can't sustain the loss any further so they are pulling out.
You can't fight market forces !

[EDDIE51]

TWR you have the answer the UK government sold the entire British Steel industry to TATA an Indian company way back in 1988
. YES WE DID SELL OUT and we did it over 18 years ago, it has made a loss ever since!

[fiction-factory]

I agree, Eddie- except 1988 was 28 years ago

[EDDIE51]

Yes sorry, too tired after looking after 3 grand-kids all day!

[janzman]

My grandfather spent all of his working life at the Consett Iron Company. My father did his apprenticeship there and then his entire career in the steel industry.
For them it was the iron and steel industry, for others it was coal mining or ship building or any of the numerous manufacturing industries this once great producing nation had to offer.
Almost nothing left now. As we in the north might say 'Tata' for now and evermore.

[Buenchico]

The British steel industry was dead many, many years ago. When I moved to Sheffield (a city which, after all, has had a proud historical association with steel) FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, all of the 'ordinary' steel mills in the city had already been closed down. Only certain 'specialist' steels were still being made in the city (and in neighbouring Rotherham). The closures had come about through both a lack of demand for the types of steel made by those steel works and through competition from overseas (with more modern plants and lower labour costs).

Governments of both political colours had, quite rightly, recognised that there was no point trying to save uneconomic plants and hopefully, as the last remnant's of the UK steel industry breath their dying breaths many, many years after they should have done so, the current government will also follow the same line.

[tonyav]

About four hours to wait before the out come of the meeting in Mumbai is announced.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/live-updates-tata-steel-board-11105253

[EDDIE51]

I will be astounded if they decide anything other than full closure. Mothballing it will lead to even more losses and mean it will sit for ever as an out dated plant with no realistic possibility of reopening at a profit.

[tonyav]

Looks like Tata intend to sell it's entire UK steel operation.

[Old_Geezer]

28 is over 18 ;-)

A country needs to decide whether a particular industry is important to keep going for the benefit of the country or whether it is acceptable to rely on a foreign nation to supply the country's needs. If not planning to export the global price is less critical and should be compared to the cost of having one's supply suddenly lost. The obsession with cost & efficiency tends to blind some political ideologies to such considerations.

I was surprised when Tata bought the plants. It did occur to me that they might be expecting continual taxpayer aid as some sell-offs get, or maybe were removing a rival from the market. Unusually it now seems to be the poor decision it appeared to be at the time.

Meanwhile the UK government has to reconsider the past government's decision to wash its hands of the industry. Does it think a country needs a secure supply for industry or does it risk closing plants and relying on cheap suppliers elsewhere in the hope they can restart the industry quickly if things change on the global market ? Some industries require a lot of time, effort, cost to start and are only feasible when kept going continually. I'm not a stell industry expert but suspect it is such an industry.

IMO it is important that a country isn't so reliant on others who, naturally, will put their own needs first. The sell off was ill advised. Any savings not worth the risks.

Luckily I'm informed we are not in the economic doldrums any more due to our brilliant chancellor taking us rapidly out of recession, so we must have loads in the national kitty to nationalise the industry with and secure the situation.