Following the recent UK government intervention to avert the collapse of British Steel, the political focus has now turned to Scotland, where the Dalzell plate mill remains idled, Kallanish learns.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he was “horrified” by Dalzell being idle, while the Scottish National Party has no “industrial strategy to bring work to those mills.”
Starmer called on John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland, to bring the steelworks back online. The articles notes that the workforce at Dalzell has been furloughed on 80% pay, despite a 2016 deal brokered by the Scottish government which saw the Dalzell and Clydebridge steelworks transferred from Tata Steel to Liberty, backed by a £7 million ($9.2m) loan.
Amid the runup to the Holyrood election in 2026, Starmer, as leader of the Labour party, is seeking to oust the SNP.
The debate over support of the Scottish plants has gone on for some time and now intensified following the recent take-over of the Scunthorpe site. Over £100m of taxpayer money has been spent supporting day to day running and raw material purchases for Scunthorpe.
In 2024, amid the then ongoing talks with Tata Steel regarding Port Talbot, Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie wrote to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, urging the UK government to step in, warning the Dalzell plant was “teetering on the edge”.
The Companies House listing for Liberty Steel Dalzell Ltd shows it has not filed full accounts since 2019.
Earlier this year, the Community union published a report calling for investment in Dalzell which would allow it to meet growing demand from the offshore wind sector.
In response to Starmer’s criticism, Community assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said: “We welcome the Prime Minister’s intervention and his call on the Scottish Government to take action to secure the long-term future of Dalzell plate mill. This is a site of huge strategic importance and potential, and should be at the heart of an industrial strategy for Scotland.”
“As we highlighted in our recent Steel Reforged report, with the right investment and upgrades, Dalzell could help meet the burgeoning steel plate demands of the offshore wind industry and the UK defence sector. It is unacceptable that Dalzell remains idle, and the SNP government in Holyrood cannot continue to sit on their hands and do nothing,” he added.
Carrie Bone UK
