https://edconway.substack.com/p/the-strange-unsettling-story-of-british "So this raises all sorts of deeper questions that go far beyond British Steel itself. However much one might agree with the decision to save the Scunthorpe blast furnaces from starvation, what kind of Pandora’s Box does this open? If the government can take control of a company simply because it doesn’t agree with the leadership’s strategy, how might it choose to deploy that power in future? Is it setting a new precedent taking it into significantly more interventionist territory? And what will this spell for future relations with China (remember the UK was in the process of cosying up to Beijing only a few months ago)?"
If one is from a former British oversea territories, one would know Leyland, Bedford, Morris Minor, Land Rover, Peters engine, Lister engine etc. All these need steel. Now that most of these are gone, there is not much demand for steel. One leader of a prominent country is trying to reverse that. It takes a leader with a deep understanding of manufacturing supply chain to plan for it. The planning horizon is much longer than the election cycle of 4 or 8 years. For example, Apple, starting from a garage to factory and eventually outsource to Foxconn and focusing in design and software. The EV strategy has stalled. As for content, iTune is OK and appleTV is not. Apple is on top of the food chain and they can do that. British is not alone. The US has its rust belt. The western economists' idea of going into value added service strategy and outsource all the manufacturing dirty works may come to bite them in a big way. PS: A country cannot be over reliant on another no matter how good a relationship. e.g. Australia's over reliant on coal and steel just one country. It created havoc when the good friend pull the plug.
“Another more outlandish theory, not entirely dismissed by officials in Whitehall, is that it could be acting under orders from Beijing, who would welcome the demise of another leg of British industry. “ Even Farage, leader of our right of Conservative Party thinks it should be nationalised. You can’t cling to ideology against China’s well thought out strategic aims at ripping the west a new one. National security first.
There is not a national security issue. Buy from the US or Japan or Canada etc.It is pandering to the unions.
The UK is repeating a similar kind of mistake it made after WWII. The UK went to rationing and socialism after the war. The result was it eventually became the sick man of Europe.
We would become the only G7 country without capability to produce steel. If that's not a security issue, I've a ton of free wifi equipment I can give you. Likes to dial home. A lot.
Trump is a criminal sociopath. Listen to what he says for sure, but always keep in mind he is someone who should be institutionalized, not for his protection but for yours.
This is a more nuanced topic than many may appreciate. There are multiple sources of consumer steel products outside the United States and they are not all owned by the same conglomerate. We do not necessarily need that capability domestically anymore than we need to protect our domestic ability to screw small screws into iphones . Nor do we need to protect jobs like that -- those are jobs being taken over by robots. On the other hand the production of specialty metal alloys of all types, not just steel alloys, is on a much smaller scale and there are reasons why a country might want to protect their specialty alloy industries. If we don't need more brain numbing jobs, than what do we need? We need better public education at the primary and secondary level.