Letter from Baroness Jones to Lord Strathclyde, Chair of the Constitution Committee, responding to the Committee's report on Fast-track legislation and the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025

This is the government's response, published 8 July 2025.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government responds to the Committee's recommendations on fast-track legislation by explaining why the Act has no time-bound mechanism, while noting the review procedure recommendation and pointing to existing parliamentary updates.

• On renewal, it says a time-bound mechanism would have undermined its ability to provide ongoing stabilisation, and that the Act's powers are "inherently temporary in nature".
• It states that directions can be revoked "at any time" for a particular steel company "once the need for intervention has passed".
• On review or repeal, it says discussions with British Steel's owners are continuing and this process "must progress before decisions can be taken" on the timing of any review or repeal.
• On sharing information, it says it has "committed to updating parliament every four weeks", but "some briefings may need to be given to committees privately" if details are "highly confidential".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error