Kit Malthouse MP joins call to rethink steel tariffs

The North West Hampshire MP warned that current Government plans could harm British manufacturers, including Andover-based Stannah Stairlifts, by imposing tariffs on imported steel that is not readily available in the UK.

Mr Malthouse said: "Stannah is exactly the kind of company we should be championing.

"It employs local people in skilled jobs, manufactures in Britain and exports products around the world.

"Yet under the Government’s current plans, companies that import steel to manufacture products here in the UK could face significant new costs, while overseas competitors can manufacture products abroad using the same steel, and then import those finished goods into Britain without facing the same tariffs.

"That is madness. We should not be putting British manufacturers at a disadvantage in their own market."

The new steel import regime, which could take effect in July, has raised concerns among MPs and businesses about unintended consequences for downstream manufacturers.

In a letter to the Business and Trade Secretary, Mr Malthouse and other MPs warned that higher tariffs could lead to increased costs, cancelled orders, reduced competitiveness and potential job losses across the manufacturing sector.

The letter stated: "These measures ignore the reality of steel production in the UK today, and will adversely affect many proud British metal businesses who must rely on importing certain grades of metal.

"Not because they want to undercut domestic production with ‘cheap imports’ but because insufficient quantities of certain categories of steel are produced domestically, or indeed not produced here at all."

The MPs have urged the Government to pause, delay or phase in the new rules while a review is undertaken to address the loopholes that risk putting UK manufacturers at a disadvantage.

Mr Malthouse said: "Manufacturers are already facing enormous pressures from high energy costs, rising employment taxes and a weakening economy.

"The last thing Government should be doing is making life harder for them as they attempt to create jobs and invest in communities like Andover.

"Ministers still have time to get this right, and I urge them to listen to businesses like Stannah before it’s too late."

The MPs have also called for reviewing the categories of steel and excluding those not produced in the UK, establishing a shorter review process to adjust quotas and consider exemptions, and introducing a tariff on imports of pre-fabricated products so as not to undercut the domestic metal fabricating industry.