Scrap net zero to make 'success' of British Steel, Reform deputy urges - amid scramble to save plant

14 April 2025, 09:21

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari is joined by Reform UK's Richard Tice | 14/04/25

Britain should "scrap stupid net zero" to make a success of British Steel, Richard Tice has said.

Mr Tice told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that getting rid of the net zero target would bring down energy costs and help make the plant more viable.

It comes as British Steel staff, civil servants and even different companies are spending Monday attempting to avert the permanent shutdown of Britain's last primary steelmaking plant.

The company, which was taken over by the Government on Saturday, faces a race against time to ensure it has enough raw materials to keep the two blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant burning.

Without those materials, such as coking coal and iron ore, the blast furnaces will cool, risking irreparable damage and the end of steelmaking in the Lincolnshire town.

Read more: Race to save British Steel from permanent shutdown, as union raises fear of 'sabotage' by Chinese owners

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Caller Aaron gives Natasha Devon insight into how Scunthorpe is handling the problems at British Steel

On Sunday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was unable to guarantee this would not happen but said taking over the plant had given the Government "a chance" to save it.

One major issue for British Steel is the cost of industrial electricity, which in the UK is higher than in many other developed countries.

This makes the cost of producing steel relatively high. Britain now only produces a small fraction of the world's steel.

Mr Tice told Nick: "We need to scrap net stupid zero, get our energy costs down, scrap the ridiculous carbon taxes and have a long term procurement contract for the input costs and the products that produce the brilliant products they steal.

"That's how you create a viable business. We can make a great success of it."

A government minister told LBC that the Chinese company that owns British Steel had "behaved irresponsibly".

James Murray, a junior Treasury minister, said: "We've been negotiating with them in good faith since the general election and have made a generous offer to them to keep production Scunthorpe going.

"What became clear in recent days is that they were accelerating plans to close the blast furnaces, which is why we had to act so quickly to get the legislation in on Saturday in the House of Commons and why we've now got officials who've been in there since the legislation passed.

"They're in there today trying to get that raw material into the blast furnaces to keep production going".