The British steel industry has been in decline for decades now.
Some of it, of course, is because China has been producing vast amounts of steel, flooding the market.
Much of it, of course, actually being produced and sold at a loss, but taking market share.
But the other element here, and it's quite important, is that in order to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and to meet Net Zero targets, we've almost been gleeful that we've closed steel plants.
Nigel Farage says there is a 'strategic need' for the UK to produce its own steel
GB News
And I remember very well when Redcar closed just under a decade ago, the government seemed delighted, and yet that steel production moved to India, with the products being imported back here.
So I've always had a bit of a bee in my bonnet about the decline of steel, but with Port Talbot, the last really big steel plant, Scunthorpe a bit too.
But Port Talbot, the last big primary steel producer in this country, that is going to close with a loss of 2800 jobs.
But the government today have stepped in and Jonathan Reynolds did say this in the House of Commons earlier on today: "Where the previous government had simply ceased to make decisions and decided to leave them for us to deal with.
"This was a dereliction of duty, and it has left the steel industry in particular, in an extremely perilous position.
"The last government had been promising a plan for the steel industry for years.
"With what I am able to announce today, with the signing of a legally binding deal that enables Tata to order their electric arc furnace as part of a significantly improved package, this government has made more progress in two months than they made over the last parliament."
Well, Jonathan Reynolds may have a point about the last government not really getting to grips with this. I rather agreed with that.
But bear in mind, what we're talking about here is an electric arc furnace. It's considered to be much greener: it is, in terms of emissions, greener. And basically what we do here is we recycle second hand steel.
There's actually, I think, a strategic side to steel as well.
