Latest increase – Scots taxpayers to pay first £120 million instalment to keep old English steelworks in business and another £100m to save old English oil refinery so that it can replace Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters
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Labour has been urged to lay out a credible plan for the future of British Steel, as the government spending watchdog warned of the “startling” costs of keeping the struggling manufacturer in business with no end in sight.
British Steel was taken into public ownership in July to protect “the future of steel production”, 15 months after the government stepped in to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs.
The Guardian today has the above with an increased estimate of costs from £1bn to £1.5bn since March this year.
As the implementation for the Scottish Budget in 2026/2027 looms, we can reflect on a few hundred million that we don’t have because it’s being used to subsidise our de-industrialisation.
There’s no estimate in the article of the cost to the Treasury of the above commitment but hundreds of millions must be the starting point for a steel mill of that size and labour force. Grok estimated £929 000 000 per year.
Where will that money come from? A devolved budget for England? As you know, no such thing. It will come from the wider UK tax revenue, Scots are responsible for around 10% of so we’ll be paying around 10%, hidden no doubt within the reduced 2026 settlement of the budget for Scotland, of the above nearly £1 billion.
Update – the latest prediction is not £1.5bn.
Scotland no longer produces crude steel and merely recycles old steel, at Dalziel in Motherwell.
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The above news on steel follows this on oil, from 6 July 2025:
British taxpayers could be on the hook for more than £1 billion following the collapse of the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire.
HMRC is said to be owed £250m in unpaid taxes, while the facility’s decomissioning costs could be up to £3bn.
The refinery is at risk after its owner, State Oil, filed for insolvency on Monday. The Official Receiver has reached a deal with the commodities trading giant, Glencore, that will ensure supplies of crude oil to the refinery.
Ministers have pledged to provide “short-term funding” to cover the operating costs of the facility as a sale process and potential wind-down gets underway.
The urgency of ministers to save the refinery has caused anger north of the border as the government did not make any attempt to underwrite the costs of the Grangemouth plant which has now closed. However, these concerns have been mainly on social media, with little comment coming from the SNP on the issue.
To save an English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters, the Scottish taxpayer must contribute, pro rata with one tenth of the UK population around, one tenth, £100m?
Add the billions Labour has already given to Tata Steel to keep some of its work in Wales going, there’s a pattern here and it’s all bad news for Scotland.
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