Ben Southwood's comments on the nationalisation of Tata Steel UK covered by the Guardian, Telegraph and City AM
Following the announcement that the government is willing to part nationalise Tata Steel’s UK operations and will be providing hundreds of millions of pounds of debt finance, the ASI's Head of Research, Ben Southwood, made this statement:
“Stepping in to part-nationalise Port Talbot and other Tata Steel operations in the UK, as well providing hundreds of millions of pounds of debt finance, will make Britain poorer in the long run and keep steelworkers dependent on state aid for the foreseeable future.
“If no buyer has approached at the market price, this means that the people who know the steel industry best have judged that Britain's steel sector is not viable in the long run. Sweetening the deal with government guarantees could mean permanently propping up an unproductive industry when the world is moving away from the sort of blast furnace steel production that Port Talbot has.
“There is an alternative: after the steel industry declined in Deeside in North Wales, an enterprise zone was created, which kick-started a revival in different industries with a future. Now, it is a booming site for advanced manufacturing of aeroplanes and cars.
"If there is to be state intervention, it should at least support industries that have a long term future."
Read the full City AM article here.
Read the full Telegraph article here.
Read the full Guardian article here.