Putting the c**t in Scunthorpe

When it comes to government incompetence I suppose we should at least be grateful we're not living in the United States.

However, news that Parliament is to be recalled tomorrow (Saturday 12 April) to debate the possible nationalisation (requisitioning?) of the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe will have gone down like the proverbial bucket of cold sick amongst parliamentarians. They had just got away for their Easter break, expecting to enjoy a relaxing holiday until 22 April, only to be dragged back prematurely. If they travelled abroad they face a scramble to get back to Blighty for the 11am sitting tomorrow or risk the ire of the Whips' office.

And it's not as if this issue hasn't been flagged up over the weeks since Chinese owners, Jingye, refused the government's offer of half a billion quid of taxpayers' money to bail (or is that bale?) out the foundering facility. Obviously (and especially after Donald Trump's tariff war against them) the Chinese would far rather dump their own homemade steel cheaply on the UK market than keep the blast furnaces running unprofitably in North Lincolnshire, allegedly losing £700,000 per day.

According to The Guardian, the last time parliament was recalled during recess was in 2021, when Afghanistan had to be evacuated during the Taliban takeover. It is also the first recall of parliament on a Saturday since 1982 and the Falklands War. This does seem to demonstrate a distinct lack of foresight and planning by the Labour government and its business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds. With 2,700 jobs at risk (and thousands more in the supply chain) at the UK's sole remaining primary capacity for producing 'virgin steel' from iron ore smelting, one might have expected this situation to have been anticipated and pre-empted.

There probably won't be much public sympathy for MPs and Peers being dragged back from Provence or Tuscany but perhaps there should be. Parliamentarians deserve a work-life balance as much as any other worker - arguably more so given the importance to the national interest of their being at the top of their game. To deny them a bit of Easter r&r with family and loved ones, particularly when it could so easily have been avoided by the cabinet grasping the nettle earlier, seems rather unfair. Still, at least they have jobs to come back to, I suppose.

At this of all times, a tight grip on government business is essential.

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