The UK’s steel strategy has undergone a quiet but significant shift, personified by the difference between two Business Secretaries. The original 2024 pledge to save British Steel was defined by Jonathan Reynolds; the new strategy is being shaped by Peter Kyle.
In April, when the government took control of Scunthorpe, the narrative was clear. “Jonathan Reynolds, Kyle’s predecessor as business secretary, repeatedly said the government was taking control… to preserve ‘primary steelmaking’.” This was the core justification.
Now, under Peter Kyle, the emphasis has changed. The new minister is “keen to see that transition happen” to electric arc furnaces (EAFs). The priority is no longer “primary steelmaking” but “cleaner… technology” and meeting “net zero carbon emissions.”
This pivot is the source of the current conflict. The union’s demand to “maintain primary steelmaking” is a direct call for Kyle to honor Reynolds’s original pledge.
To solve the problem his predecessor created, Kyle is now forced to consider a “financially dubious” hydrogen (DRI) plant. The December steel strategy will be Kyle’s first major test: will he break his predecessor’s promise, or will he fund a high-risk, high-cost “fix” with a depleted budget?