The death of British Industry?
25 January 2008, 01:33 PM
#1
The death of British Industry?
Coming to an industry and a town near YOU!
Interview with Phillippe Varin, the CEO of Corus, the UK steel manufacturers in yesterday's local paper. In it, he warned that the EC are rushing through legislation that will require all industry in the EC to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%
by the year 2020.
Of course, if passed, the UK government will, as always, enforce it to the letter of the law, while the rest of Europe quietly ignores it.
And if we DO enforce it? Varin warns that his company would simply move steel production to a country with lower targets than the UK, somewhere like the USA
, India, China, Russia. NOT Europe as their TARGETS, whether enforced or not, would be the same as ours
That would mean NO less emissions, in fact MORE as the steel would have to be transported here and IMPORTED, (oh dear, balance of payments too ).
And if it happens? Well in the steel industry alone, you would be looking at 20,000 job losses in Scunny from the works and associated industry, repeated in S. Wales, Teesside and Sheffield, with other places showing similar losses of jobs too.
Who's going to import raw steel to Birmingham, for example, when finished steel items could be made cheaper elsewhere, and steel would have to come from abroad?
For someone brought up in an industrial town, this is really scary.
Your thoughts?
Alcazar
Interview with Phillippe Varin, the CEO of Corus, the UK steel manufacturers in yesterday's local paper. In it, he warned that the EC are rushing through legislation that will require all industry in the EC to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%
by the year 2020.Of course, if passed, the UK government will, as always, enforce it to the letter of the law, while the rest of Europe quietly ignores it.
And if we DO enforce it? Varin warns that his company would simply move steel production to a country with lower targets than the UK, somewhere like the USA
, India, China, Russia. NOT Europe as their TARGETS, whether enforced or not, would be the same as oursThat would mean NO less emissions, in fact MORE as the steel would have to be transported here and IMPORTED, (oh dear, balance of payments too
).And if it happens? Well in the steel industry alone, you would be looking at 20,000 job losses in Scunny from the works and associated industry, repeated in S. Wales, Teesside and Sheffield, with other places showing similar losses of jobs too.
Who's going to import raw steel to Birmingham, for example, when finished steel items could be made cheaper elsewhere, and steel would have to come from abroad?
For someone brought up in an industrial town, this is really scary.
Your thoughts?
Alcazar
25 January 2008, 01:42 PM
#2
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Coming to an industry and a town near YOU!
Interview with Phillippe Varin, the CEO of Corus, the UK steel manufacturers in yesterday's local paper. In it, he warned that the EC are rushing through legislation that will require all industry in the EC to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by the year 2020.
Of course, if passed, the UK government will, as always, enforce it to the letter of the law, while the rest of Europe quietly ignores it.
And if we DO enforce it? Varin warns that his company would simply move steel production to a country with lower targets than the UK, somewhere like the USA, India, China, Russia. NOT Europe as their TARGETS, whether enforced or not, would be the same as ours
That would mean NO less emissions, in fact MORE as the steel would have to be transported here and IMPORTED, (oh dear, balance of payments too ).
And if it happens? Well in the steel industry alone, you would be looking at 20,000 job losses in Scunny from the works and associated industry, repeated in S. Wales, Teesside and Sheffield, with other places showing similar losses of jobs too.
Who's going to import raw steel to Birmingham, for example, when finished steel items could be made cheaper elsewhere, and steel would have to come from abroad?
For someone brought up in an industrial town, this is really scary.
Your thoughts?
Alcazar
Interview with Phillippe Varin, the CEO of Corus, the UK steel manufacturers in yesterday's local paper. In it, he warned that the EC are rushing through legislation that will require all industry in the EC to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20%
by the year 2020.Of course, if passed, the UK government will, as always, enforce it to the letter of the law, while the rest of Europe quietly ignores it.
And if we DO enforce it? Varin warns that his company would simply move steel production to a country with lower targets than the UK, somewhere like the USA
, India, China, Russia. NOT Europe as their TARGETS, whether enforced or not, would be the same as oursThat would mean NO less emissions, in fact MORE as the steel would have to be transported here and IMPORTED, (oh dear, balance of payments too
).And if it happens? Well in the steel industry alone, you would be looking at 20,000 job losses in Scunny from the works and associated industry, repeated in S. Wales, Teesside and Sheffield, with other places showing similar losses of jobs too.
Who's going to import raw steel to Birmingham, for example, when finished steel items could be made cheaper elsewhere, and steel would have to come from abroad?
For someone brought up in an industrial town, this is really scary.
Your thoughts?
Alcazar
25 January 2008, 01:45 PM
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It's scary, but to be honest what surprises me more is that it's actually still cost effective to have steel manufacturers based in the UK at all.
Bringing in effective emissions reductions is very difficult as if we cut our emissions and stop it being cost effective to produce steel here, we'll simply import from countries where they don't have a cap on emissions - so all it does is move the problem elsewhere. They'd have to introduce a tax on imports from countries who don't meet the emissions regs, but even then there would be countries who got round that, and they'd gain as a result.
Bringing in effective emissions reductions is very difficult as if we cut our emissions and stop it being cost effective to produce steel here, we'll simply import from countries where they don't have a cap on emissions - so all it does is move the problem elsewhere. They'd have to introduce a tax on imports from countries who don't meet the emissions regs, but even then there would be countries who got round that, and they'd gain as a result.
Trending Topics
25 January 2008, 03:45 PM
#8
In the week that Gordon Brown turned down the request to write off part, or all of the Humber Bridge debt, to make it so that cancer sufferers on the south bank don't have to pay £2.7 each way to go and get treatment, he gave £50 million to China to help with THEIR emissions!
Why are that man's priorities so far out?
So we on Humberside still have a situation where prisoners at Hull Prison can have their relatives, friends etc cross the bridge for free to see them, but if we need medical help, we have to pay to cross.
Alcazar
25 January 2008, 04:34 PM
#11
I've been upto Sunny for a work related visit - (the BOS plant - the big arsed box looking building - is tops! lots of molten metal, sparks and stuff.. cooooool 
).
The impression I got is that they only make very specialised types of steel in the UK now rather than the "normal" stuff. Presumably there is a reason they still make those types of steel here (engineering expertise?) rather than make it much cheaper elsewhere - as they do with the more normal grades of steel? Other wise they would have shifted production already?
). The impression I got is that they only make very specialised types of steel in the UK now rather than the "normal" stuff. Presumably there is a reason they still make those types of steel here (engineering expertise?) rather than make it much cheaper elsewhere - as they do with the more normal grades of steel? Other wise they would have shifted production already?
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