Righton Blackburns Involved in Industry Discussions with Parliament

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With the imminent imposition of new quotas and tariffs on steel products, Righton Blackburns’ Andy Gauler joined a Round Table with industry leaders and Members of Parliament.

Andy Gauler (Righton & Blackburns Ltd, Aerospace & Defence Manager) attended a Round Table meeting on the 15th of June, with concerned MPs from the Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Conservative parties, to discuss a number of the potentially devastating issues that will arise from the imposition of the UK Steel Safeguarding measures that are due to go ahead on the 1st of July 2026 (IN JUST TWO WEEKS TIME)

UK’s steel trade measure from 1 July 2026 (DBT on Gov.UK website)

Andy invited both Airbus and Safran to the meeting, which was also attended by other members of the UK Aerospace & Defence Supply (Swiftool Precision, West Special Fasteners, Swiss Steel, Valbruna UK, Dynamic Metals and HQW Aerospace. The meeting was chaired by Sarah Olney MP, and she was supported by Dame Harriet Baldwin MP, Sarah Combes MP, Victoria Collins MP and Toby Perkins MP, as well as a number of Parliamentary aides in support.

The urgent call from all was the immediate suspension of Category 14 (Stainless and light sections) & Category 27 (Non and other alloy cold finished bars), which, unless things change, will be faced with a 50% Tariff as of the 1st of July.

UK Steel is sadly not in a position to manufacture at scale, at the right price and in line with all the demanding but necessary regulatory measures and complex specification requirements of the Aerospace, Submarine, Frigate, Weapon, Space and emerging Drone sector market needs.

MPs were made aware of the unintended consequences of the Tariffs for UK manufacturing:-

  1. Loss of UK sovereign manufacturing to Europe, Asia and North America, who will all have access to domestically produced tariff-free steel or, in the case of the EU from across the Single Market, as Aerospace & Defence companies and their supply chains are truly global
  2. Tens of thousands of highly skilled job losses
  3. Significant inflation for the MOD, Tempest, AUKUS Submarines, Shipbuilding, Drones and Weapons programmes at a time when Defence spending needs to be increased
  4. Significant damage to other areas of UK manufacturing, using Categories 14 + 27 and other affected Category areas for Steel that are not produced in the UK
  5. Hundreds of SME closures as working capital and profitability is decimated
  6. Access to sufficient business credit insurance, which is already challenging for businesses in this post-Covid era

All parties agreed that the solution is the suspension of Category 14 and Category 27 tariffs and potential closer alignment with the EU, whilst Industry/Government in partnership look to build UK steel manufacturing capability in the medium and long term, as 40 years of the Oil tanker going in one direction, cannot immediately be reversed or turned around very quickly.

Finally, on behalf of the Supply Chain members, can I thank Sarah Olney and her fellow MPS for the time and courtesy they extended to us and for their immediate understanding of the existential threat that we and hundreds of thousands could face.

Urgently review & adjust steel import quota & tariff changes – effective 01/07 – Petitions

 

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