This site is so important. It doesn’t just provide jobs, it also produces extremely important materials for British industry and our energy and defence sectors. Much like British Steel, which was in the news for being saved by the Labour Government last week, the EGF site has a furnace which if shut down, is hard to start back up again.
I want to be clear - I will stop at nothing to keep it open, and I am on the case. As soon as they released the statement about a potential closure, I wrote to the Secretary for Business and Trade, Jonny Reynolds, and urged his Department to support me in my fight to stand by local workers and keep this important site open. I am also in touch with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and people at the heart of Government. They are speaking directly to Nippon, and are working as hard as possible to find a solution.
I am also in touch with the GMB Union representatives. I know people are really worried about their jobs, and I know GMB are working hard to get as much information as they can, working alongside Councillor John Vickers. There are so many skilled people who work at this site and our area - and our country - cannot afford to lose those skills. It is vital that the UK can make complex things.
I visited the site a few months ago and was so impressed by the skilled work being done there, and the size of the site. But I know they have been facing problems with profitability and competition from China. I visited again this Tuesday, to learn more about the hurdles to keeping it open and profitable - and to speak to employees about their futures.
In the past, our area powered the nation with our mining industry, producing the coal needed not only to keep the lights on, but to run our factories, manufacturing and industry. The things that EFG helps to make are not all that different - glass for wind turbines for a new generation of energy - glass for electric vehicles which allow us to travel in the future without reliance on increasingly unavailable and volatile fossil fuels.
On Saturday, I was proud to return to Parliament to save British Steel, protecting vital British jobs and a backbone of British industry and national security. In that debate, lots of arguments were made about the need to have British controlled and produced supply chains, especially for vital materials like steel. This is no different. In a new energy age, and in an increasingly volatile world, Britain’s manufacturing power must stay strong.
The world is increasingly insecure. This site is really important for the new industrial strategy - for electric cars and wind turbines, and for showing that Britain can and will be an industrial force. The Prime Minister has been clear about the need to protect Britain’s industrial interests. This is an example of where that really matters.
So, we will leave no stone unturned while we search for a way to keep the site open.