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The UK government’s proposed tariffs on imported steel could cost thousands of jobs, the head of a select committee has warned, ahead of their introduction in July. Liam Byrne, who chairs the business & trade select committee, said the panel had written to ministers with a ‘very high degree of alarm’ that the mooted taxes on imported steel could put thousands of jobs in the industry at risk as they are pitched at the wrong level. The Labour MP echoed calls from Conservative shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith that the policies, which aim to stop cheap steel being ‘dumped’ in the UK and hitting UK production, had not exempted specialist steel which is only made abroad and can be used in industries including aerospace and defence. It could lead to businesses being ‘punished’ by the tariffs and facing higher costs, potentially forcing some to cut jobs or close completely. From July the government will lower the tariff-free quota level for steel importers by 60% compared to current arrangements. It will double import taxes on steel coming into the UK above those levels from 25% to 50%. It is part of a wider move to ensure 50% of the steel used in the UK is made in the country, up from 30%. Business minister Chris McDonald said the government wanted to ensure a priority for British-made steel that is already, or could be, manufactured in the country. He said the government wanted to create its own aerospace supply chain, and specialist steel production. However Liberal Democrat business spokeswoman Sarah Olney pointed out that this could take years. Speaking in the Commons, Byrne said: ‘I’m today publishing the committee’s correspondence with ministers after the round table we held with steel producers, expressing a very high degree of alarm that these measures were not in the right place and thousands of jobs are now at risk. ‘There is a loophole for the import of fabricated steel. Canada and the US have both moved to close that, there’s a question about why we have not made the same steps. 12 months is too late. ‘There are no exemptions on steel products that we don’t make, as we have heard, there’s no clarity on the use of procurement to drive domestic production, and it would appear that a number of the quotas have been set in the wrong place.’ Griffith had earlier said: ‘Many of the specialist steels & are not as it stands, even produced here in the UK. ‘That is a real issue for example in [steel] used in aircraft wings or in defence applications that we need to make ourselves safe.’ The Tory shadow minister asked for the government to exempt certain steels as he quoted Stephen Morley, president of the Confederation of British Metal Forming, who said the UK risks ‘accelerating the decline of its manufacturing base rather than preserving it’. McDonald, himself a former steelworker, replied that new steel measures were needed because the current measures expire on July 30. He said that Canada, the US and EU introducing their own protections would make the UK vulnerable to cheap steel being dumped. ‘We are quite clear about that,’ he said. ‘That will be the end of our primary steel industry, so something needs to be done. In designing the measures we’ve been very careful to ensure that the measures are targeted at those steels that are made or could be made in the UK. ‘However, the categories are quite broad and so we acknowledge that some steels that aren’t made and couldn’t be made in the UK could be swept up and that’s the point of the quotas.’ Responding to Byrne he later said the government had ‘heard’ feedback from the industry about quota levels. Olney repeated the concerns about businesses being impeded if they are unable to buy their specialist steel made in Britain. She said: ‘If there is no domestic supplier that can meet the grade and certifications that its customers require, businesses simply cannot buy British and will be punished by new tariffs as a direct result. ‘The specialist steels needed by aerospace, defence, and precision engineering are not made in this country in the grades or volumes that those sectors require, and qualifying a new source takes not a fortnight, but several years.’ McDonald replied: ‘The measures have been designed to cover those steel categories that are made or could be made in the UK, and the particular issue she’s raising here is around speciality steels.’ He added: ‘This is about choices, and this government has decided that we do want to have a full aerospace supply chain including our own speciality steels production, and that is a different choice to the choice the previous government made.’ By Harry Taylor, Press Association Political Staff Press Association: Finance source: PA Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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