After the recent intervention of the UK government aimed at preventing the collapse of British Steel, political attention has shifted to Scotland, where the Dalzell sheet-rolling plant is still idle, according to[b]Callanish[/b].
In an article for The Sunday Times, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was "horrified" by Dalzell's inaction, while the Scottish National Party did not have "an industrial strategy to keep these factories running."
Starmer appealed to John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland, with a request to reopen the steel mill. The articles note that Dalzell employees were laid off with 80% of their salaries paid, despite a deal brokered by the Scottish government in 2016, which resulted in the transfer of the Dalzell and Clydebridge steel mills from Tata Steel to Liberty, secured by a loan of 7 million pounds (9.2 million dollars).
Ahead of the Holyrood elections in 2026, Starmer, as leader of the Labour Party, is seeking to oust the SNP.
The debate about supporting Scottish factories has been going on for several years. for a while, and now he's become more active after the recent takeover of the Scunthorpe site. More than 100 million pounds of taxpayers' money was spent on day-to-day operations and the purchase of raw materials for Scunthorpe.
In 2024, amid ongoing negotiations with Tata Steel on Port Talbot, Liberal Democrat MP Willie Rennie wrote to the Minister of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, calling on the UK government to intervene, warning that the Dalzell plant was "teetering on the brink."
The list of companies registered with Liberty Steel Dalzell Ltd shows that it has not filed a full account application since 2019.
Earlier this year, the Public Union published a report calling for investment in Dalzell, which would meet the growing demand from the offshore wind energy sector.
In response to Starmer's criticism, the Assistant Secretary General of the community, Alasdair McDiarmid, said: "We welcome the Prime Minister's intervention and his call for the Scottish government to take action to ensure the long-term future of the Dalzell sheet rolling mill. This location has great strategic importance and potential and should be at the heart of Scotland's industrial strategy."
"As we highlighted in our recent Steel Reformed report, with the right investments and upgrades, Dalzell can help meet the growing demand for steel sheets in the UK offshore wind and defense sectors. It is unacceptable that Dalzell is inactive, and the government
