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Starmer To Act in The AnswerBank: News
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Starmer To Act

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douglas9401 | 23:25 Fri 11th Apr 2025 | News
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But only on the fairly straightforward stuff that won't bring the people onto the streets.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx20jr8rjj2o

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And where are we getting the coking coal from, needed for the blast furnaces?  Japan.  JAPAN

Why?  Because we closed the last coking plant (Kellingley - in Yorkshire!) in 2015

We also import other coal from USA and Australia, even though there are untold tons of the stuff under the ground in the UK, but we are not allowed to mine it.  

Unbebloodylievable

Starmer always acts.  He missed his vocation.

The "crisis" enveloping BS (and its gradual decline) has been ongoing for probably fifteen years.

When Labour took power last July among their "top priorities" was to solve the steel problem and in particular to save the country's last blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. Just a month ago the owners of the Scunthorpe plant had stopped buying in iron ore and coking coal to keep them going.

Now the government has to convene an "emergency" sitting in Parliament saying that they have been "negotiating in good faith" with the owners of the plant to see it saved.

Even if it is, its contribution to our needs will be miniscule. In 2023 the UK produced 5m tons of new steel. China produced over 1,000m tons.

Meanwhile the newly formed "UK Steel" is fannying about with electric arc furnaces which melt down scrap steel.

If the present owners just want to close it then they must consider it fairly worthless.  Best just nationalise it and keep things going ASAP.

//Best just nationalise it and keep things going ASAP.//

Really? Is it sensible for the taxpayer to offer up millions to support a loss making enterprise?

Of course it is. If recent events haven't driven home the need not to be reliant on others for essentials then I doubt anything will ever do.

Anyway nationalisation is ownership rather than support. Support tends merely to line the pockets of private individuals.

If we are importing the iron ore & the coking coal & the means of electricity generation isn't that just "relying on others" anyway?

The amount it will cost to keep this running is not insubstantial and has proved unviable for other traditional industries.

Just re open a *** coal mine instead of importing from other countries thousands of miles away and sack Miliband. 

I suspect ginding availability of mineral ores is easier to than supplies of a finished manufactured product; especially in times of strife and isolation.

...finding...

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