With the news that government is to 'willing to act' and that it will 'leave no stone unturned in support of the UK steel industry', please find the following quote from Matt Kilcoyne of the Adam Smith Institute calling on the government to reveal the civil service advice received on any loans to be offered by government to this commercial operation and rejecting corporate welfare: 

"Before the government commits to throwing any more cash into a burning furnace to prop up the business of two super-rich brothers, they should make public the civil service advice on whether there was any business case for the £100m loan made just three weeks ago. And we should inquire whether this loan was used by British Steel to try and extend the private lines the company holds with banks and insurers. It is never in the national interest to make bad commercial decisions on the back of taxpayers' money.

"Greybull Capital demanding taxpayers put money on the line to save their business while limiting their own exposure is the worst of crony capitalism. Money funnelled from your pockets to Westminster and onto Mayfair, with the pretense of saving Scunthorpe just prolongs the inevitable. On top of this it undermines trust in our economic system and opens the door to even more direct control of our economy under Jeremy Corbyn.

"The British people have had enough of throwing their hard earned money at failing enterprises. No small business can demand a bail out, nor should any big one. It’s not the government’s role to bailout collapsing businesses."

For further comment or to arrange an interview, please contact the Adam Smith Institute press team via email (matt@adamsmith.org), mobile (07904099599), or office phone (02072224995).