From steel to early years, workers need more than promises this Spring Statement

25 March 2025, 14:55

All eyes will be on the House of Commons this Wednesday as the Chancellor delivers the Spring Statement.

Whilst not a Budget announcement in the traditional sense, this is still an important opportunity for the government to outline its plans and priorities for the months ahead.

You’d struggle to find an organisation in the UK that doesn’t have its own asks ready for any major fiscal announcement, and trade unions like Community are no different in that regard.

As a union with a large membership in manufacturing, we would urge the government to look at what can be done to make industrial energy costs more competitive. High energy costs are a significant burden on leather, textile and white goods manufacturers, as well as on heavy industries like steel. In fact, UK steel producers still pay around 50% more each year for their energy than competitors in France and Germany. This is a huge burden on competitiveness and stifles investment in new technologies on our shores.

As we’ve argued before, this an unsustainable situation, and it represents a real threat to jobs and the proud steel communities they support - for every one job in steel production there are two further jobs in the supply chain and wider community.

In an increasingly uncertain and volatile world, we also need to ensure that we have the right policy environment in place to ensure that our steel sector – which is so vital for national security - can weather the challenges it faces.

We support the Government’s plan to invest in our defence sector, a move which has the potential to stimulate economic growth across the country, including in our steel sector which can be at the heart of the revival of our industrial base. To accompany this, we need a robust approach to trade defence and a strong UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to be brought in swiftly in line with the EU to protect the country against a flood of dirty steel imports.

Moving away from steel and manufacturing, our members in the education sector also want to see a commitment from the government to invest in the early years workforce and educators more widely. We need action to address the root causes of the longstanding recruitment and retention crisis in the sector, including on pay. The same is true for our members in the justice and custodial sector and in health and social care, who often feel that they do not get proper recognition for the skilled and difficult work they undertake day in, day out.

We are acutely aware that ministers are operating within a challenging fiscal climate, and that the process of undoing the legacy of economic damage wrought by the previous government will take time. But we welcome the continued ambition from this government to improve the lives and living standards of working people and stimulate growth across the nations and regions of the UK. We hope that the Spring Statement will lead to further progress on these generational missions.
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Liron Woodcock-Velleman is Head of Politics at Community trade union.

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