The steel crisis shows why we need Community Union back on Labour’s NEC

Since my last article events around the UK steel industry have accelerated rapidly.

Scottish TATA sites Dalzell and Clydebridge, both critical to Trident renewal, have been purchased by Liberty steel.

The rest of TATA long products division, like Scunthorpe, Lackenby TBM in Redcar and Skinningrove Special Profiles, in my constituency, have been purchased for £1 alongside Hayange in North East France, by GreyBull Capital.

The fire sale of all TATA assets continues unabated. Specialities in South Yorkshire, ultra pure steel from Stocksbridge, electro arcs in Rotherham. Workington, Tube mills like the 20″, 42″ and 84″ at Hartlepool alongside Corby. Trostre’s Tin plate, and of course the strip section sites in Wales, Llanwern, Shotton, the mighty Port Talbot. Not to forget the Grain-oriented electrical sheet at the Orb works in Newport.

Having such a limited time frame applied by TATA for such a vast array of excellent sites immediately threw into question TATA’s self respect as a responsible vendor. But this was only achieved,at all, after the hard lobbying by Community Union, nobly led by General Secretary Roy Rickhuss and Stephen Kinnock MP.

We, as Labour steel MPs, have had to act swiftly in a highly precarious scenario. Rallying behind Community Union’s savy industrial negotiating despite, until now, Tory Government indifference.

And Cameron’s capitulation into deciding upon state action is hugely significant.

Some call it nationalisation or part nationalisation. But I recognise it as the far more proactive and pragmatic “public-private partnership arrangement” as used and delivered under the days of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Car scrappage, the Rover management buyout, and to a certain extent the SSI purchase of Tees Cast Products in 2010, are all exemplars of a Labour “industrial activism”. Of course, the difference is that Labour Government’s naturally believe in the need to assist the market rather than sitting by and allowing the terrible consequences of market failure. It is an example of Labour at is most idealogical whilst being simultaneously pragmatic and populist. In short, Labour wanting to win.

Using the power of the state to assist and help retain, maintain and attract private industrial investment by using the state to underwrite that attracted private capital.

Public money is now potentially at stake. The British steel pension scheme remains as much a real industrial issue as Chinese steel dumping.

There will be very real, practical and difficult questions ahead. But it is certainly the case that without Labour steel MPs alongside Community Union, and the backdrop of Welsh elections and the threat of Brexit, we would never have had Cameron in such a precarious position and thus allowing such frantic and necessary changes in Government industrial policy.

But changes in Tory policy have yet to materialise in any reconsideration by our own party to reflect the national severity of the steel issue regarding NEC representation of our party.

No one has answered me yet why Community was removed on the very same day thousands of Community Union members lost their jobs at Redcar, during Labour’s conference last September. And the reason they can’t answer is that they know the situation stinks.

Many want me to stop raising this issue. But I flatly refuse, because the situation stinks. It stank in September 2015, and it still reeks now.

Reading hard left social media accounts attack Community for being “Blairite” or whatever other nonsense they want to spout shows just how far away many on the left are from any idea what collective bargaining and industry is.

An automatic predilection for waving flags is not an industrial strategy. Hard patient negotiation often coupled with compromise, is.

If we want to reap the full benefit of the Tories capitulation on steel, we need Community Union at the forefront of our party, and back on our NEC.

Private sector Trade Unionism is vulnerable, yet vital. Actively attacking it within our own party and actually seeing supposed Labour people continually attack a great example of it needs remedying, immediately.

Tom Blenkinsop is Labour MP for Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland, chair of Community Union’s parliamentary group and chair of The All Party Steel and metal related industries group