Protection for steel industry from cheap imports ending on Wednesday

Thousands are employed at the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot

Labour MPs have accused the UK government of "choosing to bury its head" over protecting the steel sector.

UK measures designed to protect nine steel products from cheaper foreign imports are due to expire on Wednesday.

The shadow Welsh secretary said this would leave the industry "dangerously exposed to cheap imports".

But the Welsh secretary said a UK government announcement for the sector would come later the same day.

In June, the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) - a part of the Department for International Trade which works independently from government - recommended that safeguard measures for nine out of 19 UK steel products should be removed.

Critics fear this could leave the UK steel sector exposed to a surge in cheaper foreign imports of steel from abroad and lead to job losses.

These protections were inherited from the EU to safeguard UK producers, but are due to expire on 30 June.

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The EU introduced the limits in 2019 to protect Europe's steel industry from a 'dumping' of steel it feared would be diverted from the US after former US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on cheap imports of steel from China and elsewhere.

The EU has announced it would extend the limits for three more years.

In its review the TRA said there was evidence that imports for 10 products - including railway materials and stainless-steel bars - surged from 2013-2017, causing "injury to UK producers".

It found an extension of safeguards - limits on the amounts that can be imported without tariffs - on the 10 products was "in the economic interests of the UK".

But they also recommended that safeguard measures on nine products - including tin cans used in packaging - are revoked because there was either no or "no significant" increase in imports over the period.

A steel announcement is expected from UK ministers later on Wednesday

Previously, Labour's Shadow International Trade Minister Bill Esterton called the TRA's decision to remove safeguards for nine products "deeply disappointing" and said it was "simply not true" that the UK government's only option was to accept this recommendation.

On the day the protections are due to expire, the Shadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith said the UK government was "choosing to bury its head in the sand and pass up the last opportunity to renew vital steel safeguards".

She added: "With our industry now dangerously exposed to cheap imports and with news that a deal is now imminent, which will grant exemptions to EU exports going to the US, our steel exports are now going to be desperately, desperately trying to compete."

Labour's Newport East MP Jessica Morden said the UK government had "until tonight to step in and temporarily retain crucial steel import safeguards to protect our steel industry from cheaper foreign imports".

The Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said the UK government support of Celsa steel during the pandemic was an "indication we too are prepared to put our money where our mouths are in terms of supporting the industry".

He said it would be "rash" to predict what the UK government would announce on this, but said an announcement from the UK government would come "later today".

He added that "our commitment to steel in Wales is absolutely resolute" and that they have been in "regular touch with our colleagues in government about this and also the industry itself".

Labour have used an Opposition Day in Parliament to try to block the recommended removal of steel protections, but it failed to win support in Westminster.