Journalist Yvonne Ridley says the UK Government should follow the example set by the Scottish Government and play its part in saving the steel industry
WHEN Margaret Thatcher became prime minister she set about laying waste to those great working class communities where coal, steel and shipbuilding fuelled the British economy and provided work for hundreds of thousands of people.
Now, it seems, David Cameron will finish off her industrial scorched earth policies by refusing to offer a lifeline to the steel industries in the communities of Port Talbot, Scunthorpe, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton as a consequence of Indian steel giant Tata Steel quitting the UK.
Thankfully the Scottish Government has more vision and empathy for the men and women of steel in Lanarkshire after agreeing to save the nation’s historic industry from oblivion. I wonder how much the spectre of Thatcher’s legacy influenced and compelled First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to ensure a just solution was found which would save the jobs under threat at the Lanarkshire steel mills.
Sturgeon readily admits she was driven into politics by her hatred of Thatcher and the toxic impact her Tory policies had on Scotland, so perhaps we should not be too surprised at her government’s reaction to prevent another steel community being written off.
Sturgeon readily admits she was driven into politics by her hatred of Thatcher and the toxic impact her Tory policies had on Scotland, so perhaps we should not be too surprised at her government’s reaction to prevent another steel community being written off.
The two remaining Lanarkshire steel mills were saved from closure after metals group Liberty House bought them from Tata Steel, in a deal brokered by the Scottish Government. The deal is proof, if it were ever needed, that FM Sturgeon is about building, reinforcing and investing in the working classes whereas her nemesis Thatcher was about destroying, dismantling and depriving those same communities.
After her years in office the industrial landscape of Scotland was left reeling thanks to Thatcher’s brutal monetary philosophy, based on the laissez faire doctrine of Adam Smith who believed in non-intervention which in turn served to ensure the accelerated demise of the steel industries.
Steelworks closures on a huge scale had, she argued, become inevitable, especially after the 1970s oil crisis which pushed up prices to an all-time high. But I saw with my own eyes the devastating effect on the communities that served them and no doubt so did Sturgeon.
As a cub reporter for the Consett Guardian and Stanley News, I watched as the steel men of Consett were consigned to the scrap heap; many of them men in their 40s left with nothing to look forward to other than 25 years of living off benefits and welfare.
As a cub reporter for the Consett Guardian and Stanley News, I watched as the steel men of Consett were consigned to the scrap heap; many of them men in their 40s left with nothing to look forward to other than 25 years of living off benefits and welfare.
Even today Cameron and his Tories view such closures as inevitable purely based on the one dimensional view of commercial failure but there is a serious flaw in all of this. Consigning entire communities to a welfare-dependent life without work is not good economics.
One can’t help but feel if Port Talbot was full of bankers the future might be different when you look back and consider the bold steps taken during the so-called bank bailout. And let’s face it, that collapse wasn’t brought about despite hard toil, blood, sweat and tears, it happened due to the incompetence of the very same bankers. Despite this reckless behaviour, Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown argued that saving the banking industry was essential because everybody needed finance.
Well I would argue that Britain needs a solid steel industry just as much despite the politics of Thatcher and her apprentice Cameron. Ships are built from steel, the construction industry relies on steel and so does what is left of heavy engineering. The quality of steel manufactured in Scotland, Wales and the North of England is of a quality unmatched by the cheap, foreign imports flooding an already crowded market.
The order books might look empty at the moment but a quick look at the history of Consett Steel, for instance, reveals from its inception in the 19th century that it had a history of peaks and troughs. Money was invested in the bad times and enabled the company to compete in the good times.
Even today Cameron and his Tories view such closures as inevitable purely based on the one dimensional view of commercial failure but there is a serious flaw in all of this.
Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne now have a precedent set for them by Sturgeon’s government – they could bail out Port Talbot and other steel-making communities now rather than face the higher costs of redundancies, welfare packages and long term support. Failing communities are a long term financial burden for any government.
In recent years construction sites and heavy industries have become a magnet for the Westminster-based Eton mob so desperate to portray themselves as the only party to represent the working man – well let’s see Cameron put on his yellow safety hat and go into the steel communities promising the industry a long term future.
Steel making in Scotland has been given a second chance by Holyrood in Motherwell and Cambuslang and now similar lifelines are needed from Cameron in Port Talbot, Scunthorpe, Rotherham, Corby and Shotton.
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Picture courtesy of Ben Salter