A Sound Investment

John Prescott writes:

The Chinese president’s visit has seen George Osborne’s chickens – or Peking ducks – come home to roost.

While he’s been bending over backwards to get investment from the Communist state, his own ­government has been standing idly by while our steel industry goes to the wall.

The fiasco over the steel factory closures is the result of the latest in a string of incompetent decisions he’s made as Chancellor.

First he scrapped the Regional Development Agencies, which were well-placed to help local businesses and generated £4 of wealth for every £1 spent on them.

Then, instead of borrowing to invest in infrastructure projects – housing, transport and new schools – he became obsessed with reducing the deficit.

And he’s failed to achieve that because cuts choked off growth, pushed us back into recession and cost us our triple-A credit status.

He also ditched Labour’s Northern Way strategy, a plan to increase ­investment across the North by improving East to West transport links and encouraging co-operation between Liverpool, Hull and the rest [sic] of the North East.

Now, after finally realising his plans are failing, he’s playing catch-up with his Northern Powerhouse, a plan that’s only really helping to turn Manchester into a second London.

The flooding of our market with cheap Chinese steel – which breaches trade rules – has created a perfect storm that’s led to a potential 15,000 job losses in Scunthorpe, Redcar and Scotland.

The fact is Osborne has no ­industrial policy.

Instead the Bullingdon boy has to go top hat in hand to the Chinese to fund a new generation of power stations and the HS2 high-speed rail link.

The only state aid Osborne believes in is foreign state aid. Boy George has even mishandled our relationship with China.

When Labour were in power, I chaired the Government’s China Task Force, set up to increase trade with the Chinese. When I stood down, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, took over the role.

What did the Tories do when the coalition came to power? They put Jeremy Browne – a junior Lib Dem minister – in charge. And he was eventually sacked in a reshuffle.

The message from Osborne to China was “see ya, pal”.

Tata and SSI Steel workers can protest but the Chinese will be allowed to do whatever they like. Osborne has shipped off our ­industrial strategy to China. The ultimate Chinese takeaway. 

The Tories are treating steelworkers just like they did the miners – with contempt.

The Government can and must do more. Labour bailed out banks to protect jobs and stop the economy slip into a devastating depression – a crisis caused by the greed of bankers.

We stand to earn £2billion from the sale of state-owned shares. Osborne should make sure it is used to help steelworkers and their families.

Instead of paying down the debt, he should use the £2billion for infra-structure projects, HS2 and housing that use British steel, and help steel plants survive by subsidising energy bills and cutting their business rates.

It will be a sound investment. In 2013, UK steel contributed £9.5billion to the economy and exports were worth £4.9billion. Canary Wharf, the Sydney Opera House and the World Trade Center were all built with British steel.

And we should insist that new nuclear power stations built by the Chinese use our steel, too. Don’t let our steel industry go the same way as our mines.

We did it for the bankers. Now let’s do it for our men and women of Steel.

Four things the Government must do:

An immediate cut in business rates for the steel industry and a fairer system of valuation.

Give the steel industry a break from green taxes and high energy bills.

Block China from dumping cheap steel on the UK market.

Buy British. Major infrastructure and construction projects and all government backed contracts should look to use British-made steel.

Steel Petition

Dear David Cameron,

We want urgent action to save the steel industry and prevent the loss of thousands of jobs. It is time to cut business rates and energy bills for steel plants, block cheap Chinese exports and get UK firms to buy British-made steel.

Sign up here.