Steel plant meltdown: How Ed Miliband's eco-dreams might cost thousands their livelihoods

By HOAR Team 12 April, 2025 5 mins read 82 Views

Jesus. What a mess.

I spent yesterday watching the political theater unfold as MPs scrambled back from their beach holidays and family getaways to deal with what can only be described as an industrial emergency. The Scunthorpe steel plant—a beating heart of British manufacturing since the 50s—was literally 48 hours away from permanent shutdown. And somehow, Ed Miliband's fingerprints are all over this disaster.

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When Chinese owners play hardball

Let me paint you the scene: Steel workers physically blocking Chinese management from entering teh plant. Emergency coal shipments being rushed from Japan (JAPAN!) to keep furnaces running. Parliament holding a rare Saturday session to pass emergency laws allowing the government to seize control of the facility.

This isn't some theoretical policy debate anymore. This is 3,000 real people's livelihoods hanging in the balance.

Back in 2018, I visited Scunthorpe for a piece I was writing on industrial communities. A foreman there told me, "This place isn't just where we work—it's who we are." I remember thinking how precarious it all seemed even then. His words hit differently now.

The bitter irony nobody wants to talk about

The plant is bleeding about £400 million annually. That's roughly £133K per worker if you're doing the math. Taxpayers could be on the hook for billions over the next few years if full nationalization happens (which Reynolds basically admitted is coming).

But here's what makes me want to throw my laptop across the room: We're shipping coking coal from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET while blocking a perfectly good coal mine in Cumbria. Make it make sense!

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith didn't hold back. He absolutely eviscerated Miliband in the Commons, pointing out that UK energy costs are DOUBLE what German manufacturers pay. Double!

Miliband's vanishing act

You know what really got me? Miliband couldn't even be bothered to sit through the entire debate about an industry his policies have helped push to the brink. He walked out after just an hour.

I texted a Labour staffer friend asking why. Her response: "No comment, but read between the lines." Telling.

Are we seriously the only G7 nation that can't make steel?

That's what we're facing. Britain—the country that practically invented the modern steel industry—potentially becoming the only major economy unable to produce its own steel.

I feel stupid now for not seeing this coming. The writing's been on the wall since Labour blocked that Cumbria mine last year. Their environmental ideology is crashing headfirst into economic reality, and guess who gets crushed in between? The workers. Always the workers.

Reynolds tried spinning this as the Tories' fault for selling to Chinese owners Jingye in the first place. Fair point... but doesn't explain why we're now in this emergency situation under Labour's watch.

The weirdest political moment of 2025 (so far)

Reform UK's Richard Tice showed up wearing a trade union "Save British Steel" badge. A right-wing populist sporting union gear while advocating for nationalization.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, I guess.

Look, I've covered industrial policy for 15 years now. This isn't just about one steel plant. It's about whether Britain still believes in making things. Real things. With our hands. Or if we're content becoming a nation that just imports everything while patting ourselves on the back about hitting arbitrary carbon targets.

The emergency legislation passed unanimously, but that's just the beginning. The real question is whether this government has any actual plan beyond crisis management.

And whether Ed Miliband will still be Energy Secretary by the time you read this.

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