Blair McDougall
MP for East Renfrewshire · Labour · United Kingdom
“The hon. Gentleman is getting slightly ahead of what I was about to say, which is that we are racing to make sure that as many companies as possible make that deadline. Of course, we will keep things under review as we want the maximum number of companies to be eligible.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“BICS is a central part of our drive to engineer the reindustrialisation of the UK. Reindustrialisation means building on the strengths of every part of our country, creating good jobs and connecting communities to the industries and opportunities of the future.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“They implement the renewables obligation and capacity market exemptions, and they enable the renewables obligation level for the 2027-28 obligation period to be revised in the light of BICS. They also provide for the BICS eligibility criteria and how the level of discount will be calculated.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Obviously, this is not the only intervention to assist with energy costs. We have the supercharger for energy-intensive industries, and the ceramics fund is specifically aimed at helping that sector, which is under stress with energy prices, to decarbonise, to electrify and to innovate.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are committed to maintaining a competitive and resilient industrial base, but persistently high energy prices, especially electricity prices, have increasingly undermined investment, productivity and employment, particularly in manufacturing.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“When BICS was first announced, we envisaged that around 6,000 businesses would be eligible, and that has now been extended to 10,000 businesses. With its design, we have already tried to go further.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“It will allow them the freedom to invest further in their business and help drive economic growth across Great Britain. I commend these regulations to the Committee.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“They implement the renewables obligation and capacity market exemptions, and they enable the renewables obligation level for the 2027-28 obligation period to be revised in the light of BICS. They also provide for the BICS eligibility criteria and how the level of discount will be calculated. An instrument to exempt eligible businesses from the indirect costs of the feed-in tariff will also be made. We recognise the tremendous challenges that British manufacturers are facing, and we have heard the call to go further. That is why eligible businesses will also receive an additional payment in 2027 related to the amount they would have received had the scheme gone live this year. BICS will support British manufacturing businesses to thrive and become more competitive on the international market.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“These costs are levied on electricity suppliers, which pass them on to domestic and non-domestic consumers through their electricity bills. BICS is expected to cut electricity costs by up to 25%, or £40 per megawatt-hour, and over 10,000 manufacturing businesses will be eligible. The scheme is designed to support manufacturing businesses in high-growth and strategic sectors to be more internationally competitive, and to drive investment and economic growth across all regions of Great Britain. It will spread the benefits of growth across the country, supporting businesses rooted in communities across our regions, with the vast majority being small and medium-sized businesses. The regulations are an important part of delivering that objective.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are committed to maintaining a competitive and resilient industrial base, but persistently high energy prices, especially electricity prices, have increasingly undermined investment, productivity and employment, particularly in manufacturing. For too long, British industries have faced some of the highest industrial electricity prices in Europe due to a combination of structural factors and policy costs. There is a need to address the immediate cost pressures that are facing the British manufacturing industry and stifling growth, which is precisely why BICS has been introduced. BICS will exempt eligible manufacturing businesses from paying the indirect costs of the renewables obligation and feed-in tariffs from April 2027 and capacity market costs from October 2027.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“BICS is a central part of our drive to engineer the reindustrialisation of the UK. Reindustrialisation means building on the strengths of every part of our country, creating good jobs and connecting communities to the industries and opportunities of the future. BICS will address the persistent competitiveness challenges facing British manufacturers by reducing electricity costs for eligible businesses. It will drive investment and economic growth in strategically important sectors across Great Britain. BICS will support frontier manufacturing industries within the IS-8 sectors and the foundational manufacturing industries that provide key inputs to their supply chains. This includes eligible businesses in automotive, aerospace, clean energy, life sciences, chemicals and steel, and many more.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Renewables Obligation and Electricity Capacity (Amendment) (British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme Excluded Electricity) Regulations 2026. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 7 September 2026. I acknowledge the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, which provided helpful scrutiny of the regulations and did not draw them to the special attention of the House. I also acknowledge that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee reported on the regulations and did not draw them to the special attention of the House. These regulations deliver the British industrial competitiveness scheme, which is a flagship commitment of the modern industrial strategy.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank Members for taking part in this debate. I am grateful for the constructive tone, particularly from the Opposition. As the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth said, we sat around the table with some superb advanced manufacturers from the automotive sector in his constituency. They deserve not just our praise but our action, which is exactly what we are attempting to achieve with these regulations.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We will review the scheme in 2030 to assess its continued effectiveness in supporting the competitiveness of manufacturing businesses. I commend the regulations to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Obviously, this is not the only intervention to assist with energy costs. We have the supercharger for energy-intensive industries, and the ceramics fund is specifically aimed at helping that sector, which is under stress with energy prices, to decarbonise, to electrify and to innovate. Ultimately, the long-term future for competitive energy prices in this country, after the experience of two fossil fuel shocks in five years, is to move towards cleaner, cheaper, more reliable power that we control. I am grateful to Members for their contributions to this debate and for their support for these regulations. BICS is intended to challenge the long-term competitiveness disadvantages, and it will benefit over 10,000 manufacturing businesses in high-growth and strategic sectors across the country.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“When BICS was first announced, we envisaged that around 6,000 businesses would be eligible, and that has now been extended to 10,000 businesses. With its design, we have already tried to go further. Both the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero have made it clear that they have wider ambitions. It is perhaps a little late—I do not know whether the Budget has been sent to the printers—but I can assure my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth that both my Departments will continue to make that case to the Treasury, but I would say that drawing a greater amount on the Exchequer obviously has an opportunity cost for other industrial support we can give. We have to be careful to strike a balance.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman is getting slightly ahead of what I was about to say, which is that we are racing to make sure that as many companies as possible make that deadline. Of course, we will keep things under review as we want the maximum number of companies to be eligible. The scheme has been described as complex, and certainly its design is complex. Although it is complex for my civil service team, we are hopeful that, through the work we have done with the online eligibility checker, it will not be complex for businesses as they apply. I urge Members across the House to reach out to their local manufacturers to make sure they apply for this support. There is an understandable consensus urging us to go further, which is completely fair. Energy prices are one of the country’s key competitive disadvantages.”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Members in paying tribute to the campaigners who, all the way through this, have spoken up for miners, ensuring that they get what they deserve. Today, there remain almost 150,000 members of the two schemes, the vast majority of whom are receiving their pension. Five thousand of them are in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and 37,000 are across the east midlands. The average age of members across the two schemes is 76, as hon. Members have said. The group includes 30,000 widows, with an average age of 84. We owe former mining communities a debt of gratitude for their contribution to national prosperity, and we must acknowledge and recognise the hard work and sacrifice of coalminers, who powered this country for decades.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government of the day gave the mineworkers a guarantee: the value of the fund would not decrease—this would ensure that pensions would continue to be paid—and the Government would take half of any surplus from the investment. The other half could be used to improve benefits through bonus pensions. For the miners’ scheme, this surplus sharing arrangement has continued, although this Government have not taken any money from the scheme since we came to power in 2024. For the British Coal staff scheme, the surplus sharing arrangement was ended in 2015, and future benefits were fixed, ensuring that pensions could be paid. The aim is to return the reserve to Government in 2033. Since the 2015 changes, the scheme’s investments have performed well, building up a reserve of £2.3 billion. I join hon.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will come to what miners are owed in a moment, but it is right that we recognise at the start of this debate that those debts cannot be repaid by anyone. My hon. Friend says that this is not about money, but as we discuss money and pension schemes and their distribution, we remember that, my God, the miners earned every penny of it. As my hon. Friend will know well, the British Coal staff superannuation scheme dates back to 1946 and the mineworkers’ pension scheme to 1952. When the British Coal Board was privatised in 1994, the schemes were closed to new entrants and the remaining employees were given the right to participate in successor schemes.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for securing this debate, for his leadership on behalf of miners and also for taking the time to recognise and remember today’s anniversary. The poet Ron Cook described Aberfan as the day “when the world stood still and the mountain moved”. Aberfan was one of those tragedies that so overwhelming in its injustice that it is painful to think about, but that is precisely why it is essential to remember. My hon. Friend’s speech also brought to mind a story I read of the Victoria colliery disaster in my own constituency, where 63 men and boys were killed. The bodies were laid out in the churchyard of St John’s church in Barrhead, where the local women faced the unimaginable horror of having to identify the remains not just of a husband but of a son.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government will make an announcement once that agreement has been formally reached, and we are seeking to do that as swiftly as possible, while managing wider funding risks. The Government and trustees have had very constructive discussions. I hope to be in a position to announce a way forward shortly, and I will continue to work with hon. Members towards that end. Question put and agreed to.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is direct support for the pensioners and local communities who powered this country for decades. However, as all the hon. Members who have contributed to the debate have said, there is more to do. My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield raises important questions. We are in that terrible pre-Budget period when lots of Ministers stand at the Dispatch Box and ask for patience. I have to do the same, but I recognise that we are dealing with people who are incredibly advanced in years and cannot afford to wait indefinitely. We have been discussing proposals for future arrangements for the scheme with the trustees, including the potential for future surpluses to be used to enhance benefits, and we have been making good progress.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“That is why the Government are implementing those recommendations, for both schemes. We continue to guarantee both schemes, ensuring that scheme members’ pensions will always be paid. As has been said, in 2024, one of the first decisions we made was to transfer the £1.5 billion investment reserve in the miners’ scheme for use as bonus pensions. The hard work of colleagues on the Labour Benches increased those incomes by 32%—an average of £29 per week. We have also transferred the £2.3 billion equivalent in the British coal staff scheme. That led to a 41% increase in pension incomes last December, backdated to November 2024. On average, that meant an extra £100 per week in scheme members’ pockets and, as has been said, that went into local economies.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on behalf of miners throughout his life. I will come to the specifics of the scheme and his ask in a moment, but he is absolutely right that issues like this are exactly why all of us came into politics in the first place; we came into politics to deliver for individuals like these. Previous Governments have failed to ensure that former British Coal employees got the amount of pension they deserved. In 2021, the Select Committee looking at the mineworkers’ pension scheme recommended that the Government take no further funds from the scheme, transfer the reserve to scheme members and review the surplus sharing arrangements. That Conservative Government declined to accept those recommendations, but miners, as my hon. Friend said, deserve those historical wrongs to be righted.”
House of Commons21 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are determined to tackle the scourge of late payments, which causes the closure of 14,000 businesses and costs the UK economy almost £11 billion a year. The Commercial Payments Bill currently progressing through Parliament will give the UK the strongest laws in the G7 and represents the most significant reform of payment practices in over 25 years. The Bill will ensure that small businesses spend more time on growing, investing and creating jobs and less time on chasing late payments.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I know from personal experience how frustrating it is to have large firms use small firms as a source of free finance. The Commercial Payments Bill will clamp down on late payments by introducing maximum payment terms, providing stronger rights to interest and strengthening the powers of the Small Business Commissioner. She is right about the need for a culture change. The message from Government is that this legislation and this change is coming, and large companies should get their payment practices in order right now.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue. I know it is a huge problem in Northern Ireland, as it is in the rest of the UK. One of the great problems with the current system is that a small business has to be aggressive towards its own customers to chase those late payments. The Commercial Payments Bill will turn that power relationship on its head, and people will expect to be paid on time. If they are not, there will be mandatory interest on that.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The industrial strategy sets out the Government’s long-term approach to boosting investment, productivity and growth, building on the UK’s industrial strengths, including advanced manufacturing. Through the complementary advanced manufacturing sector plan, backed by £4.3 billion of Government funding, we are helping manufacturers to grow and thrive.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the huge opportunities for manufacturers on the Isle of Wight. We are determined to use procurement strategically, as other nations do, to back British industry. It is particularly important with shipbuilding. We are expanding the role of the National Shipbuilding Office to oversee that. The renewed investment in defence and shipbuilding will create opportunities across the maritime supply chain, including for the Wight Shipyard Co. and other island manufacturers.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Place is central to the industrial strategy. We have been working with Plymouth and the south-west peninsula to support the development of distinctive nationally significant clusters. I visited Plymouth and Cornwall earlier this year to meet the freeport, understand the opportunities around marine autonomy and see for myself Cornwall’s incredible critical mineral potential.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend and the other Cornish Labour MPs are incredible advocates for critical minerals and their potential in the UK. Projects in that part of the world are essential to our ambitions. We are supporting lithium projects in Cornwall, including through an offer in principle of £9.8 million through DRIVE35 for Geothermal Engineering Ltd, as well as a £31 million equity investment in Cornish lithium through the National Wealth Fund. We will continue to work to ensure that we keep more of that value in the UK.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I, too, was in Scunthorpe recently meeting British Steel management and the unions. The positive news we can give them is that Alan Lovell is now in place as chair, and he is working hard to stabilise operations, improve health and safety, and develop the long-term plan that the hon. Gentleman has worked so hard on with to achieve.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is a great champion for that sector. The British industrial competitiveness scheme is now open. In addition, we will be reviewing the British industry supercharger later in the year and we will be working closely with the food manufacturing sector as we do that.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for his consistent support for the refining industry. I have been meeting with the industry this week to discuss issues such as the energy issues that he mentions. We recognise that the sector faces real challenges. The work to consider the impacts and the feasibility of bringing refined products, for example, into the scope of the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism is ongoing, and we will certainly continue to engage with him on energy costs and other issues.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I spent a fantastic day with the aerospace industry last week. Over and over again, they spoke so enthusiastically about the Aerospace Technology Institute and the investment that we are putting into the sector. I pay tribute to the company that my hon. Friend mentions in her constituency. Advanced manufacturing of all sorts is one of the things that we are really great at in this country, which is why we are backing it with the industrial strategy.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is a constant advocate for the Grangemouth site. Last night, I and my officials met representatives of the National Wealth Fund and the Office for Investment to push forward on this. We have a taskforce meeting on Monday at which, among other things, we will be pushing for faster action to prepare the groundwork for investment, so that we can deploy the £200 million from the National Wealth Fund that we have set aside.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We will absolutely discuss that. As my hon. Friend knows—because he talks to me about this issue at every available opportunity—we are determined to make sure that more of the value of that entire process remains in the UK, which is why we are putting £50 million on the table for exactly that sort of development work.”
House of Commons15 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government recognise that energy costs remain a challenge for businesses across the country. Our British industrial competitiveness scheme, which is now open, will support over 10,000 businesses, cutting electricity costs by up to £40 per MWh. There is also the British industry supercharger’s enhanced support for our most electricity-intensive firms. We know that is not enough, and we are working across both my Departments to explore further options.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As ever, my hon. Friend is a champion for business and industry in Southport. The short answer is yes, I will write to Ofgem on this matter, and I will share the response with my hon. Friend. In the meantime, I reassure him that Ofgem’s cost allocation and recovery review is considering how costs should be recovered from consumers, and the arrangements for recovering network costs.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The hon. Gentleman makes one of the many good arguments for acting at pace to get cleaner energy, which is good for business and household consumers, and saves a considerable amount of money for the public sector. That is exactly why we are investing in, for example, rooftop solar across the public sector. We will certainly work with the Scottish Government on that.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As has happened so often, we find ourselves rising to the Dispatch Box to answer Opposition Front Benchers’ questions about why we have not been quick enough to fix the mess that they left us. By all means criticise the speed and the scale of our ambition—we are certainly ambitious to go quicker—but the shadow Minister’s proposal is to regress to the policy of reliance on fossil fuels that got us into this mess, and does not bear any scrutiny.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am the one who can organise something in a brewery, apparently! We hear lots of representations from hon. Members in support of small businesses, and we recognise the challenges that they face with their energy costs. Eligible small businesses are already benefiting from the VAT cut. On top of that, we will bring forward measures to deal with the third-party intermediaries who are often ripping off small businesses. As I said earlier, we are keen to go further, and I am working across both of my Departments towards that end.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have brought the instrument before the Committee so that Members can consider and approve the legal modifications needed to give full and effective operation to the transfer. In summary, the instrument is limited in its scope of modifications, restricted as they are to British Steel’s specific case, and necessary to make the nationalisation effective. It provides legal certainty, supports employee protections and helps to secure the continuity of British Steel following its transfer into public ownership. I therefore commend the regulations to the Committee.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Fourthly, the instrument rules out the possibility that Ministers and civil servants count as “shadow directors” of the company, and fifthly, it disapplied rules around the reuse of a company name by a new company when the original company goes into insolvent liquidation. Taken together, the modifications have enabled, and will continue to enable, the new publicly owned company to function properly while the Government stabilise the business and consider its long-term future. Due to the need for the transfer to come into effect immediately, it was necessary to make this instrument simultaneously with the transfer regulations, and it came into force immediately on 16 July as a made affirmative instrument. The House will rightly expect scrutiny of the decision to make the law modifications in the regulations, and I welcome that today.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Secondly, due to the unusual situation and pace of the legislative transfer of British Steel’s business, the instrument disapplied the TUPE requirement for the current employer to inform and, where appropriate, consult elected or trade union employee representatives, in the context of this specific transfer only. Thirdly, the instrument provides that British Steel does not count as a “public authority” subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Procurement Act 2023, reflecting the fact that it operates and competes in the private sector rather than as a traditional public body.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This statutory instrument is needed to protect the continuity of operations and give legal certainty to employees, customers, suppliers and other parties affected by the transfer. The statutory instrument addresses five technical areas of the law that require modification to ensure the effectiveness of the transfer of British Steel, reflecting the fairly unique nature of that transfer—a legislative nationalisation at pace—which was not envisaged when the relevant laws were first drafted. First, the instrument puts beyond doubt that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006—known as TUPE—apply with regard to employees moving from the old company to the new company. This provides British Steel employees with certainty about the continuity of their jobs and terms and conditions after the transfer.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We could not sit by and do nothing—the company’s collapse would have led to serious and difficult-to-reverse consequences for steelmaking capacity, supply chain resilience, workers and the communities that have supported the business for generations—so the British Steel Limited Property Transfer Regulations 2026 transferred certain property, rights and liabilities of British Steel to a new publicly owned company, wholly owned by the Secretary of State immediately on 16 July. The regulations before the Committee are a necessary, targeted and technical part of the transfer. They were made to ensure the effectiveness of the transfer and the operations of the new public company.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Friend the Member for Hove and Portslade (Peter Kyle), considered the public interest test carefully prior to making a decision, before deeming it necessary to nationalise British Steel based on the relevant factors and the likely costs. Given the financial challenges that the company is facing and has faced for some time, the Government’s assessment was that without taking British Steel into public ownership, there was a significant risk that it would fail and that this essential steelmaking capability would be lost.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the Modification of the Law (British Steel Limited Property Transfer) Regulations 2026. The regulations were laid before the House on 16 July 2026 under the affirmative procedure. Steel is foundational to our economy and national resilience, and to the critical infrastructure on which communities and businesses across the country rely. The House will be well aware that British Steel is one of the UK’s largest steel producers. The steel that it forges is used by our clean energy sector, in construction, in our bridges and on our railways. In other words, Britain needs British Steel. The decision to bring British Steel into public ownership was not taken lightly. The Secretary of State at the time of the transfer, my right hon.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It supports the effective operation of the transfer, protects continuity and gives confidence to those affected by the transition into public ownership. For those reasons, I commend the regulations to the Committee. Question put and agreed to.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Their purpose is narrower, but it is important to ensure that British Steel’s specified property, rights and liabilities operate effectively in law, and that the necessary legal clarity and certainty is in place following the transfer. That certainty matters. It matters for employees, whose rights and protections must be clear; for customers and suppliers, who need confidence that the business can continue to operate; and for the wider economy, which relies so much on steel. I reassure the Committee that the Government understand the need for proper scrutiny. The regulations were made using powers passed by Parliament in the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Act 2026 and are subject to approval by both Houses. This debate has been an important part of the process. The statutory instrument is technical, targeted and proportionate.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Gentleman is exactly right to point out that we need to take an entire-steel-sector view of the future of British Steel. One of the unique things about our steel ecosystem is that there is not a great deal of like-for-like competition, and we do need companies to work together. That will be a key part of the work to produce the plan for the company’s future. We fully recognise the significance of the decision to bring British Steel into public ownership. It was a serious step taken in exceptional circumstances, and only after careful consideration of the public interest. The regulations do not revisit the whole question of nationalisation, and they certainly do not intend to take us back to the 1970s—although I would argue that pop music was better in that decade.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The changes in the regulations in respect of the Procurement Act 2023 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are a recognition that yes, British Steel is ultimately owned by the taxpayer, but it has to operate as a commercial company. We do not want it to have disadvantages or advantages compared with other operators in the field. The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we have a responsibility to make sure that the company is run as efficiently and effectively as possible. That is exactly the work we are currently doing, including through the appointment of the new chair, Alan Lovell, who will work with UK Government Investments and the DBIST representative on the company board. On SSUK and, indeed, the whole ecosystem, the hon.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I appreciate the constructive tone of the Opposition spokesperson’s comments. Let me get into the specifics he raised. The steel strategy that we set out takes specific action with regard to the profitability challenge that he rightly mentioned. It includes targeted measures on global overcapacity, energy prices, issues around procurement and the availability of scrap. On energy prices, I direct the hon. Gentleman to the changes we have made with the supercharger scheme. For the steel industry more widely, applications have opened in the last few days for the British industrial competitiveness scheme, which will have a significant impact for many manufacturers.”
House of Commons12 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“British Steel is among the UK’s largest steel producers and has an important capability in the production of several essential steel products that are integral to the construction and maintenance of our critical national infrastructure. I reiterate the Government’s thanks to parliamentarians on all sides for their constructive approach during passage of the Act. Today’s decisive action secures British Steel’s immediate future, secures steelmaking in support of our steel strategy, and supports the jobs and steelmaking communities that have underpinned the business for decades.”
House of Commons16 July 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗