Recommendation 19

Councillor Rob Waltham said that uncertainty over the ownership is frustrating. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs noted that government taking over a private company was an action of last resort, but nationalisation could have happened sooner, and that government should consider all options for future ownership models, including government retaining an equity stake, which has been used in infrastructure programmes such as Sizewell C.55 Unite the Union said that it accepted that moving from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces would lead to fewer people employed, but that this could be managed by using the natural attrition and reskilling people. It said that it was important for government to undertake the transition properly and at pace.56 50 Q 5-9; C&AG’s Report, Figure 7 51 Qq 22, 33 52 Qq 29, 36 53 Q 32 54 Qq 22, 23, 32 55 Q 36 56 Q 35 15 3 Protecting the wider steel industry Implementing the government’s steel strategy