Cameron Brown, a former business and Treasury adviser in the last Conservative government, warned ministers had “bought time, not a solution.”
“The real test comes when serious investment decisions have to be made. Sooner or later, someone will need to put a price tag on this — and it’s still unclear where that money is coming from,” he warned.
“The Treasury has always been wary of subsidizing domestic industry where products are readily available on global markets — but steel isn’t operating as a free market,” he said. “It’s distorted by subsidies, state-backed investment, and outright dumping. If the U.K. wants to retain sovereign capability in steel, it needs to be honest about the level of support that will require.”
George Dibb, associate director for economic policy at the Centre for Economic Justice, part of the progressive IPPR think tank, agrees.
“There really are very few ways that you’re going to have steel continuing to succeed in the U.K. without state intervention,” he said. But Dibb also cautioned against seeing this support as a “cost” rather than an “investment and a down payment” on continued access to the products needed to boost infrastructure, housing and industry.
The government earmarked £2.5 billion to support the steel industry in its budget, and a government official said investment options are being worked up with the support of that cash.