IT‘S NOT OFTEN that the National Liberal Party agrees with the government of the day. 

However, for once, we do.  Why?

Because three days ago – on Thursday 16th – British Steel was brought into public ownership.  This happened because the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Act 2026 received Royal Assent from the King, having passed through Parliament on Wednesday.  This new law allows ministers to transfer steel businesses’ shares or property into public ownership.

The move has secured nearly three thousand jobs at the Scunthorpe Steelworks in North Lincolnshire.

(British Steel was previously owned by the China’s Jingye Group.  They had previously planned to close its Scunthorpe plant.  However, Parliament was recalled in April last year to approve special measures legislation to keep the plant open.  An independent assessor will determine whether Jingye should be compensated for the nationalisation based on the value of the company.)

The announcement was made by the Department for Business and Trade.  It noted that:

“Maintaining steel production at British Steel’s Scunthorpe site is considered essential to preserving the UK’s ability to make steel domestically.

“After assessing the impact on the country’s economy, critical infrastructure and national security, the Business Secretary concluded that government ownership was the best way to secure the company’s future and protect the UK’s steelmaking capability and supply chains.

This follows wider support for the UK steel sector including the first ever Steel Strategy, published in March and backed by up to £2.5bn of investment, which set an ambition for up to 50% of steel used in the UK to be made in the UK. “

It’s a long overdue move which recognises British Steel vital role in building and maintaining the nation’s railways, infrastructure and manufacturing base.

We national liberals are generally opposed to centralisation.  We stand in opposition to capitalism – where property & assets are in the hands of a few – and socialism and communism – where property & assets are in the hands of the state (and party bosses).

We favour a distributist system.  Here, distributism advocates a more widespread distribution of property and productive assets among individuals.

With the above in mind, however, we believe that any industry – that could be said to be vital to the national interest – should initially be owned by the public. This obviously applies to British Steel – hence our support for it being brought back under public control.

It remains to be seen what the government will do with British Steel in the future.  Will it remain under public ownership, or will it be sold?  If the Prime Minister was still Sir Keir Starmer it probably would’ve have been sold.    What Andy Burnham will do is open to debate.

As we mentioned earlier, we favour a distributist economic system.  Worker-owned cooperatives (alongside small businesses & family farms) form a cornerstone of such a system.