In 1976, night-shift steelworkers at Templeborough – then the world’s largest electric arc plant – broke a production record. A letter from Prime Minister Jim Callaghan awaited them, hailing the shift a triumph for the state-owned plant and for Britain. It might be back to the future after Sir Keir Starmer greeted Scunthorpe workers this weekend, to mark his government taking control of British Steel from its Chinese owners.
The UK has stumbled – or rather been dragged – back into industrial policy. After decades of laissez‑faire hand-wringing, the looming closure of Britain’s last blast furnaces forced the business secretary’s hand. Nationalisation, a word redolent of postwar statecraft, is back on the table. And rightly so.
