Scottish Steelworkers Memorial Fund
The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-03317, in the name of Clare Adamson, on the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
I ask members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons as soon as possible, to arrange their microphones and put in their cards.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the work of steelworkers in Scotland; considers that, over two centuries, they have revolutionised the Scottish economy and contributed to its long and proud international reputation for high-quality iron and steelmaking; notes that the Dalziel Ironworks in Motherwell opened in 1872 and understands that the industry prospered over many years until the closure of the Ravenscraig facility in 1992; believes that this closure had a devastating impact on the population at a time that witnessed widescale de-industrialisation and a huge number of job losses; believes that steelmaking remains a flagship industry in Scotland, through the continued contribution of Dalzell, Tata Steel (Motherwell) and Clydebridge (Cambuslang); commends and recognises the Scottish steelworkers’ memorial fund, which aims to fund the construction and installation of a steelworkers’ memorial as part of the Ravenscraig regeneration project; understands that the memorial will represent and commemorate the contribution of all steelworkers in Scotland, and believes that it would serve as a lasting tribute to the brave workers in that industry who faced significant danger or lost their lives in the workplace.
17:06
I am a Lanarkshire lass, born in Motherwell, and so the motion is close to my heart. My grandfather worked at David Colville and Sons, and many of my close family and friends have connections to the steel industry, so I give great thanks to members from across the chamber who supported the motion and have given Parliament an opportunity to recognise the centuries of Scottish steel-making history that contributed much—literally in blood, sweat and tears—to the building of industrial Scotland.
In the debate, we also recognise the brave workers who were injured and maimed, and those who sadly lost their lives in a dangerous and physically demanding role. I commend the work of the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund to construct and install a steelworkers memorial on the Ravenscraig site.
There has been a great deal of interest in the debate. In the public gallery we have Terry Currie, who is chair of the memorial fund; Tommy Brennan, who is its secretary; and John Scott, who is a trustee of the fund. Mr Scott has a deeply personal reason for his commitment to the fund, as his uncle tragically lost his life while working in Ravenscraig.
Also in the gallery to witness the debate are members of the trade union movement throughout Scotland, which supports the campaign. We have Jim Baxter and Hugh Gaffney from North Lanarkshire trades union council, and we have Stephen Boyd, who is the assistant secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress.
There are also steelworkers who are interested in the debate, including Jim Fraser and Stevie Jeffrey, who marked the 20th anniversary of the Ravenscraig plant’s closure with a reunion of former ironworks, engineering and production staff. We also have Pat Donnelly from the union Community, which has generously donated £20,000 to the steelworkers memorial fund, on condition that the materials be sourced in Britain and manufactured in Scotland. I will leave procurement aside, for the moment.
It is hard to encapsulate the influence that steel making had on my life and my family’s life. Steel is so ingrained in our psyche that the nickname of Motherwell Football Club is the Steelmen. Only yesterday evening, I attended an awards ceremony at St Aidan’s high school where, as in so many Lanarkshire schools, the award for academic excellence is the David Colville dux medal. The Dalzell steel and iron works in Motherwell was founded by David Colville in 1871. It was nationalised in 1976 and is now operated by Tata Steel.
Ravenscraig dominated my childhood skyline. Often, it had a none-too-pleasant effect on the olfactory system, and I can still remember the noise and the night sky being illuminated like fire as the slag was released from the furnaces. However, the sensory effects that I remember from childhood are nothing compared to the hardship that the workers endured.
In his history of the steel-making industry, “Sons of Vulcan: Ironworkers and Steelmen in Scotland”, Robert Duncan states:
“The making of molten steel in open hearthed furnaces depended on hard manual labour, dexterity and considerable powers of mental and physical endurance.”
Workers were exposed to extreme levels of heat and were often exposed to noxious and toxic fumes. One can only imagine the stamina that was required by workers who were tasked with hand stripping and clearing the slag from the chamber beneath the furnaces, in cramped and hazardous conditions with only hammers to assist them. That was only one of the many dangerous jobs that were undertaken by steelworkers and contractors. The stresses, strains, injuries, occasional fatal accidents and constant danger were obvious features of steel making in this period.
As in many of the industries that are associated with the industrial revolution, the labour force was the steel industry’s least valued asset, so no records exist that quantify the levels of injury and death that occurred in it. Robert Duncan also references the Royal Commission on Labour from 1892, in which John Hodge, who was leader of the steel melters union in Scotland, stated that although fatal accidents were few and unusual, there were many small accidents, such as men losing a toe or a finger, or getting burnt. The truth is that we will never know the full extent of the fatalities and accidents over the centuries. Anecdotally, I know that barely any family in a steel-making community has not been touched by the tragedy that is associated with our industrial heritage.
I commend Clare Adamson on her excellent motion. Does she agree that Gartcosh steelworks, in my constituency, was also an important contributor to Scotland’s steel industry until it was viciously closed in 1986 by Margaret Thatcher, who threw hundreds of steelworkers on the scrapheap and devastated the whole community?
I could not agree more with Elaine Smith. The sacrifice of Ravenscraig and the Scottish steel industry set me on the road to politics and brought me here today.
Scotland’s steel industry is still very important today. Vallourec Mannesmann’s plant in Mossend and Tata Steel’s Dalzell and Clydebridge plants are important to Scottish industry. Anne Glover, the European Commission’s first-ever chief scientific adviser, sang the praises of Scottish steel industry in this building last week, when she described the use of our steel at European Transonic Windtunnel, which uses liquid nitrogen to freeze its chamber to subzero temperatures and in doing so uses half the power grid of the city of Cologne. It required the highest quality steel, which was delivered from Scotland.
We have a strong tradition in Lanarkshire of recognising the sacrifices that were made by workers and their families in building this nation. I count my colleague, Elaine Smith, as one of the many inspiring speakers who I have listened to at workers memorial day, which is remembered at Summerlee heritage museum. We show solidarity with workers from around the world who have lost their lives or been injured, and we highlight the preventable nature of most workplace accidents and associated ill health. We seek to promote campaigns and union organisations in the fight to improve workplace safety.
Earlier in the summer at the festival of politics, I witnessed a discussion about the great tapestry of Scotland, which will depict our history as a nation from neolithic times. The discussion of who should appear in the tapestry was quickly overshadowed by the discussion of what should appear. Crofters, jute workers, rent strikers, miners, shipbuilders and, of course, steelworkers were considered as important as individual heroes such as Adam, Maxwell, Wallace and Lanarkshire’s own David Livingstone.
I thank members for the opportunity to bring this motion to Parliament, which is very important to me. I commend it to Parliament.
17:13
I thank Clare Adamson for lodging the motion and I extend a warm welcome to the representatives of the memorial fund committee, who have joined us in the gallery. I declare an interest as someone who worked in the steel industry for 30 years. The subject is close to my heart and that of my constituency of Motherwell and Wishaw, which includes the Dalzell steel plant in Steelopolis, as Motherwell was nicknamed, and the neighbouring site of Ravenscraig, where the memorial is to be sited.
The industrial history of Motherwell and Wishaw is dominated by steel producers, steel manufacturers, engineering firms and boilermakers, such as Marshall Fleming, Morton, Anderson Boyes, Findlay, Pickering, Bone, Connell & Baxter, Butters Bros, Clyde Alloy, Motherwell Bridge and, perhaps most famous, Colville, whose plants were nationalised and privatised twice and include the Dalzell plant, which is now part of Tata. Last, but not least, there was the beacon that lit up the sky at night—the Craig, which is, alas, no more.
Hundreds of Lanarkshire workers lost their lives in the steel industry. The sculpture will commemorate them and all those who devoted their lives to the Scottish steel industry. Thousands of people who began their careers as fresh-faced innocents straight from school were, during their first days, amply supplied with requests from the gaffer such as “Go for a long staun,” “Get a bubble for the spirit level,” “Get the tartan paint,” or “Get a bucket of blue steam.”
I am pleased that the motion recognises the work of the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund to promote the memorial. I thank supercounty for supporting the campaign and I hope that the difficult task of acquiring funding will have success. We should give credit to supercounty’s chief executive, John Scott, whose brainchild the memorial is. I welcome the discussions with sculptor Andy Scott, who is famous for large-scale public art, including the heavy horse by the M8. I note that the proposed 6m-high sculpture will depict
“a steel worker rising out of smoke and molten metal releasing an athlete sprinting towards the county’s future.”
In that spirit, the sculpture will be more than a memorial to the past. It will also be, as it should be, a commitment to the future.
Scottish steel can again be central to Scotland’s economy, through emerging markets such as renewables. Government has a crucial role in building an industrial strategy that can deliver much-needed opportunity, and it must work with the steel industry to promote Scottish steel in a competitive global marketplace. The strategy must involve capital investment projects that provide opportunities for steel and other home-grown Scottish industries.
I hope that the Scottish Government heeds the cross-party support that is being shown in the debate. I invite the Government to join us and put much-needed resources into the regeneration of Ravenscraig, to make Europe’s largest brownfield site a national priority and—once again—a beacon for the Scottish economy.
17:18
I congratulate Clare Adamson on securing the debate and welcome members of the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund committee to the public gallery. I apologise for not being able to stay behind after the debate to meet them, and I apologise to the Presiding Officer and members, because I might miss the end of the debate—I must leave early to get back to my constituency.
I am happy to speak in the debate, because the steel industry has been important to west central Scotland’s industrial past. I was pleased that Clare Adamson lodged the motion, because she has spoken eloquently many times about the industry’s importance to her family and how it motivated her to go into politics. We heard more eloquence from her this evening.
I do not have the direct experience of steelworks that Clare Adamson and John Pentland have, because I did not grow up in the vicinity of a steelworks. I grew up in Glasgow, so it was the horn of the shipyard, not the steelyard, that I heard. Of course, the shipbuilding industry was served by the steel industry, which reflects steel’s importance to wider west central Scotland. I note with sadness the decline in the shipbuilding industry, which is similar to that in the steel industry.
However, many of my constituents have direct experience of the steel industry. I have many constituents who worked in it and, of course, many more who worked in mining, which served the steelyards. Again, that emphasises the importance of the industry to the wider west central Scotland area.
It is right and fitting that we ensure that those who have lost their lives in industries are marked with a memorial. That has happened in other industries. Earlier this year, the First Minister unveiled a memorial to the 73 people who died in the construction of the Forth rail bridge. A memorial of the Auchengeich disaster has also been created in recent years. That memorial, which the First Minister also unveiled, is not a million miles from my constituency. In the Condorrat area of Cumbernauld, there is a memorial that marks not only the war dead and the radicals of 1820 but the men who died in the Auchengeich disaster. It is therefore absolutely right that there should be a memorial to those who lost their lives in the steel industry, and it is fitting that Ravenscraig should be the location for such a memorial because of its iconic value. I am sure that Elaine Smith might have argued for Gartcosh, but it is right that Ravenscraig should be chosen as the site for the memorial.
The memorial will not be a memorial only to those who died; in some ways, it will be a memorial to the industry. It will mark the sad loss of Scotland’s manufacturing capacity. I think that we all wish that it could have been built at an active steelworks in Motherwell but, sadly, that is not the case.
I once again congratulate Clare Adamson and the committee that is taking forward the attempts to get the memorial created. If I can be of any assistance in that regard, I am happy to be.
17:22
I, too, congratulate Clare Adamson on securing the debate. Like Jamie Hepburn, I apologise, as I have to get to a cross-party group meeting in around eight minutes, or I will leave many people without someone to lead the debate.
The debate is on an issue that is of great importance not just to communities in the shadow of Ravenscraig but to communities throughout Lanarkshire and in many other parts of Scotland. Steel making was as much a part of the lives of people in those communities as breathing. This debate is not just an opportunity to remind ourselves of the past and the fundamental role that the steel industry has played in shaping Scotland; it is also an opportunity to celebrate the industrial capacity and skills that we still have at our disposal.
It is true that Scotland’s steelworkers have revolutionised the Scottish economy over the centuries, and there can be no greater legacy than to see it contributing to Scotland’s future growth and the emerging markets, especially in the renewable sector. In that regard, I pay special tribute to the Clydesdale tube works in my constituency and the many generations of highly skilled workers whom it has produced. As a boilermaker, he might be a bit surprised by this, but I particularly welcome my colleague Pat Donnelly from the Community trade union. Pat is the national executive representative for the steelworkers union in Scotland and a union stalwart of the Clydesdale tube works. I place on the record the invaluable role that the Community trade union—which was formerly the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation—has played in the industry over the years, all too often in the face of enormous difficulties. It has led the way for independent working-class representation in one of the most traditional industries, and it deserves the Parliament’s respect for doing so.
Contrary to the general perception, it is a fact that, of all the steel-finishing processes to be carried out in our area, the most extensive and longest lasting was tube manufacture. By the latter half of the 20th century, Stewarts and Lloyds had the monopoly of that industry in the United Kingdom, and it had four large facilities in the Monklands district, at the Imperial, Calder, British and Clyde works.
The decline in the industry began in the 1960s, and that led to many Lanarkshire workers transferring with it to follow the work to Corby. Many of those families originally came to Scotland from Ireland, Poland and Lithuania—the Mossend area is synonymous with the Lithuanian community in Scotland—in the 19th century as the steelworks grew. They migrated again to continue to work in the steel industry away from Lanarkshire as it declined.
By the 1980s, the centre of tube manufacturing was in two mills in the Clydesdale works at Mossend. That plant is now owned by Vallourec Mannesman Oil & Gas UK, which, is the largest—indeed, the only—United Kingdom-based manufacturer and supplier to the North Sea oil and gas industry. I would like it not only to maintain that position but to grow and expand in the years ahead. For those like my father, grandfather and uncles who worked at Clydesdale, that would be the best memorial that we could build.
17:25
I thank my friend and colleague, Clare Adamson, for bringing this timely debate to the chamber.
Industrial Scotland was built on steel and coal. With the advent of the industrial revolution, coal and iron ore—the raw materials of industry, which were found in plentiful supply in many areas of the country—were turned into the steel that ensured a solid base for the population growth of many communities that we all know today. The countless thousands of workers whose sweat oiled the businesses that made riches for some in the land are to be held in the highest regard. They are, after all, our own recent and distant ancestors, so we do well to honour them through support for the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund.
My memories of the fight to save steel production and thousands of jobs in Scotland revolve greatly around what we called the steel camp, which I and a number of friends established at the gates of Gartcosh in early 1986. I have probably aged less well than Elaine Smith since that time—I see that she is hiding her shyness, having left the chamber.
Gartcosh was a major campaign. For the people who worked there, it was more than that—it was their lives and their families’ lives. We were happy to stand alongside them. It snowed, of course, but we had four tents and a camp stove and took two or three-day shifts at the camp, trying to show our support for the steelworkers and to provide our own focal point for protest at the threatened closure. We had the television, radio and newspapers visit us, as well as many well-wishers who brought supplies. However, it was the kindness of the staff and regulars at the nearby Gartcosh social club that sticks in my memory. They gave us a place to wash in the mornings and the occasional proper meal—because, although we tried, it is impossible to live on Mars bars for a month—and showed solidarity with us, much as we were trying to do with them.
My family background is in shipbuilding and engineering and, as is obvious, those required a constant supply of top-quality steel. The links between communities across Scotland are greatly shaped by the steel that was produced in the great mills of Ravenscraig and the other production sites that have been mentioned. My dad suffered from industrial deafness from working in engineering—at least, that is what he told us when we asked for a couple of pounds on a Friday night. That is the kind of person who showed support for the steelworkers, and the steelworkers were strong in showing their support for other people across the country, which was always welcome during the industrial disputes of the 1970s and 1980s.
The coal mining communities worked in tandem with their industrial cousins, and we should mention them, too. The jobs were always dangerous and, as I have spoken at conferences that were organised by the STUC and the Scottish hazards campaign, I am well aware of the sad sacrifices of the many who suffered injury and death at their workplace in the course of steel manufacturing. It is fitting that those sacrifices should be marked by a permanent memorial.
It is with heartfelt pride that I speak here today to thank the generations of steelworkers and their families, who have contributed so much to the Scotland of today. I fully support the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund and the efforts of those who are in the public gallery tonight and others who are involved in marking the contributions of those who worked in the steel production that made our country what it is today and all those who were, sadly, injured or killed in that work.
17:29
I, too, thank Clare Adamson for securing the debate and I put on record Margaret Mitchell’s apology to Clare Adamson and the chamber for being unable to attend as she has a prior engagement in central Scotland.
As energy and enterprise spokesman for the Conservatives, it has fallen to me to participate in the debate. I am a Highlands and Islands MSP, so the memorial for the steelworkers will be pretty far from my region. Nonetheless, Scottish Conservatives try as much as possible to support members’ business debates.
I understand the empathy with her parents’ working background that Clare Adamson spoke of eloquently, as Jamie Hepburn said. I fully understand that, given that my father worked in agriculture all his life. However, given my lack of familiarity with the debate’s topic, I found myself reading about it in the Motherwell Times, the Hamilton Advertiser, the Morning Star, the Daily Record and, of course, on the BBC website. Apart from the latter, that is not my normal reading on a weekly basis, but it was very interesting nonetheless.
All those sources covered the issue that is the topic of this debate with the respect and dignity that it merits. The Motherwell Times stated:
“Those behind the project are in complete agreement with the council and the development company in that the structure should be inspirational and of a scale to be a worthy memorial and at the same time complimentary to the innovative developments which will take place on the site.”
I like that, because it fully respects the proposed memorial to Ravenscraig and the workforce and recognises the innovation taking place and moving forward. Richard Lyle gave a positive endorsement of the campaign for this worthy memorial in the same edition of the Motherwell Times.
If funding is secured and the project is delivered by next year, it would coincide with the celebrating Lanarkshire 2013 initiative to highlight achievements in Lanarkshire over the past 200 years. The memorial will therefore be not just a worthwhile initiative but a critically timed one.
A deputy lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, Terry Currie, who I believe has joined us in the gallery, chairs the memorial fund. He has fully endorsed and acknowledged the memorial as a remembrance to those who died and something that will honour all the steelworkers in an industry that, as he has stated,
“revolutionised the Scottish economy and ... allowed Britain to become the workshop of the world.”
At the highest point of the structure, on a flow of steel, a sprinting athlete will be seen powering towards the future, symbolising Lanarkshire’s regeneration and a new start. I understand that the monument is to be in a paved area in front of the new Ravenscraig regional sports facility, which is at the heart of one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe.
Again, I thank Clare Adamson and apologise on behalf of Margaret Mitchell. I hope that I have been worthy of speaking in the debate. It is a fitting tribute to the steelworkers who died and, indeed, to the industry, and a recognition of the innovation that is taking place and moving forward.
17:33
I congratulate Clare Adamson on bringing the debate to the chamber and I congratulate Mary Scanlon on reading her first edition of the Morning Star. Should we now call her sister Scanlon? [Laughter.]
I nervously bring a bit of balance to the debate in the form of an east coast accent, because in my formative years working at Rosyth dockyard we faced similar struggles to those that were faced by the workers in places such as Ravenscraig and the Timex factory. Such struggles awakened a generation of young workers to some of the issues that their parents and grandparents had faced more sharply in more difficult times, particularly in terms of securing employment. Certainly, the struggles shaped a generation of trade union officials and people involved in politics. I associate myself with Clare Adamson’s explanation of that.
For me, it went much deeper than that. A former industrial chaplain at Ravenscraig, John Potter, eventually found himself working at Rosyth dockyard and acting as a go-between for the trade unions and management. That was not his official role, but he certainly did it and he had clearly picked up the appropriate skills from his time at Ravenscraig.
John Potter will never know the influence that he had on me during my time in Rosyth dockyard. He passed on his experience from Ravenscraig to me and my colleagues. I wanted to mention him for two reasons, the first of which is the advice that he gave at that time. For example, he would say, “Managing is far too important to be left to managers, John—you need to go and influence them.” He tried to get me to take a much more rounded approach to industrial relations. More importantly, I wanted to mention John Potter because he had a huge impact not just on Ravenscraig, but on industrial relations more generally at that time. He deserves to be mentioned in the Parliament, so I am pleased to do that.
Michael McMahon mentioned Pat Donnelly, who is the Scottish rep on Community’s national executive committee. It is important to mention Community, which was formerly the ISTC, and its work in relation to the steel industry. I do not just mean the welcome donation that the union has given for the steelworkers memorial. At a difficult time for workers and trade unions, Community is always scanning the horizon on behalf of its members and taking a progressive approach to industrial relations. It considers how to influence politicians and the Government and how to promote concepts such as industrial strategies to ensure that, in the future, we have a manufacturing base and highly paid and skilled jobs.
A lot of that work goes on behind the scenes and is never reported in the media or highlighted in any way, but it is an important role for trade unions, particularly in the private sector, where companies are up against competitors from across the globe, not just from down the road, as they perhaps used to be. It is important that that partnership happens in the workplace and between Government and trade unions, so that we can design opportunities as we go forward.
Will the member give way?
Sorry, but I have only a couple of seconds left.
I hope that Community will work hand in glove with the Scottish Government and with parliamentarians across the board on the forthcoming procurement bill to ensure that there is a future for steelworkers in the renewables industry and that public sector interventions in the industry provide steelworkers and other workers across Scotland with the best opportunities that can be found for them.
17:37
I, too, congratulate Clare Adamson on bringing the debate to the chamber, and I welcome the steelworkers memorial fund committee to the gallery.
On the day that Ravenscraig steelworks closed in 1992, I was a young reporter with The Scotsman newspaper, based in the Glasgow office. I was immediately sent to Lanarkshire to write what we in the industry called a colour piece, to reflect the feelings of the community. It was a bit like one of those dreadful moments on television when a reporter is asked to interview someone who has just had a bereavement, and they ask, “How do you feel?” It was not an easy job because, basically, I was asking the people of a community how they felt after suffering what was in effect a collective bereavement.
The mood on the ground was not one of shock, surprise or mourning, because the intention to close had been announced months before. The mood was one of resignation and quiet anger, because the closure had been a long time coming. The death of Ravenscraig was slow and torturous—it was not so much death by a thousand cuts as death by a thousand temporary closures.
For years, it was clear that Ravenscraig was being set up because it was not part of British Steel’s corporate strategy at the time. The plant was deliberately run down to concoct a fraudulent economic case for closure but, embarrassingly for the company’s bosses, the workers at Ravenscraig just kept breaking records for efficiency. It is good to see Mr Brennan and his colleagues in the public gallery. We should remind ourselves that their campaign back in the 1980s and 1990s might not have saved the plant but they won the moral argument. As a result, Scotland won the moral argument, because the existence of this Parliament is due in no small part to the story of Ravenscraig.
We have many memorials in our villages, towns and cities across Scotland. Some are to long forgotten generals; most, I am pleased to say, are to fallen soldiers. The steel industry, too, has its fallen soldiers: men who gave their lives to an industry that was key to this country’s prosperity and to whom future generations owe a great debt. That is why the Scottish steelworkers memorial fund is so appropriate.
Scotland’s status as a mature economy rests on the backs of generations of steelworkers who, along with miners, gave the workshop of the world its raw materials. In 1888 alone, the Steel Company of Scotland had 33 open hearth furnaces, a technology that we developed and which revolutionised the industry. Beardmore’s had three furnaces, as did Williams of Wishaw; David Colville and Sons had four; and Mossend had five. Around the same time, 30 plate mills were supplying Scotland’s shipbuilding industry and, indeed, that of Northern Ireland, too. Lanarkshire steel launched the Lusitania, the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, the Empress of Ireland and the Queen Elizabeth 2. Thanks to our ability to produce plentiful high-quality steel, a third of all the shipbuilding tonnage in the UK was launched from the Clyde.
We continue to benefit from that achievement. It is not confined to history, as our contemporary reputation as a nation of engineers dates back to that time because, of course, our engineering excellence grew up on the back of shipbuilding, which grew up on the back of steel. That is the steelworkers’ legacy: a nation that is still benefiting from its reputation for technical expertise and invention.
I opened my speech by remembering my visit as a journalist to Ravenscraig on the day of its closure, but that sense of loss and tragedy came home to me again 20 years later when, last year, I visited Steel Engineering in Renfrew. That company recently launched TRESTA—the renewable energy skills training academy—with a £500,000 grant from the Scottish Government. Steel Engineering works with the enormous underwater structures that are used in the offshore renewables industry, such as for marine power and offshore wind. In the next few years, there will be an enormous spike in demand for that steel. I could not help being struck by what a great pity it is that Scotland’s capacity for producing steel was so recklessly reduced back in the 1990s.
It would be welcome if the member could draw to a close, please.
I am heartened to hear of the continuing role of the remaining Scottish steel plants in Lanarkshire in the renewable energy industry, and I am pleased to hear that they have won £20 million-worth of investment from Tata Steel over the past two years. That is the largest investment in 20 years and it has created 60 new jobs in the companies.
Could the member close now, please?
Colin Timms, who is the plant manager at Dalzell, has mentioned that the renewables industry is our future. That is a fitting memorial to the workers of past centuries whom we commemorate today.
17:43
I commend Clare Adamson, not just for securing the debate, but for securing my favourite daily morning newspaper with an additional reader. To Mrs Scanlon I say that I am more than happy to ask the delivery people to double up on their rounds in the morning so that we can get a newspaper direct to her office—or, in the spirit of “better together”, I will pass on mine once I have finished with it.
Scotland’s industrial heritage is vital. It allows us not only to recognise the contribution of people who are no longer with us or to educate present and future generations but to build on our past successes and develop the industry and jobs of the future. Iron, steel, shale, coal and shipbuilding were the very things that built our nation and areas such as Lanarkshire and my backyard, West Lothian. They made Scotland the global player that it became and employed huge numbers in the process.
I will speak only briefly, but many of my constituents, especially in towns such as Fauldhouse, Whitburn and Bathgate, worked in Ravenscraig or are still working in Dalzell. Not far from my house there was a direct rail line that ran from Polkemmet colliery to Ravenscraig that was used to supply the furnace with fuel. The influence of the industry went beyond the boundaries of Lanarkshire. Those who still work in the industry tell me of a modern, high-tech industry competing globally with a quality product, and of skilled workers with a supportive community in which the reach and influence of the industry, past and present, permeates every house, pub, bookie, school, shop and social club.
Steel, like coal, is part of our national and local being and identity. The slogan for international workers memorial day is
“Remember the dead, fight for the living”.
That is not some dewy-eyed nostalgic phrase but a call to action. The initiative highlighted in Clare Adamson’s motion shows how these people are taking that call to action very seriously.
Before the final speech, I say that I, too, welcome the construction of this memorial as my great-uncle spent his whole working life at Colville.
I invite the minister to make the closing speech on behalf of the Government.
17:46
I am honoured and proud to join colleagues in recognising the steelworkers of Scotland and, as other members have done, I thank Clare Adamson for securing the debate, which has been characterised by members describing their connections with the industry. I was particularly struck by John Pentland’s saying that he had spent perhaps the majority of his adult life in the industry. His eloquent contribution plainly informed the debate. I pay homage to the steelworkers who literally built this country, the Commonwealth and the empire. I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of members of the supercounty civic group, who themselves are former steelworkers. As we have heard, many of them have very personal reasons for starting the steelworkers memorial fund.
Wherever we go in the world, we are reminded of the reach and the breadth of our steel-making heritage. Although many plaques remind us where the iron and steel that made bridges and buildings came from, there is a dearth of recognition of the men who put their lives at risk working in the harshest of conditions, as we have heard. At that time only men did that work. I thought the section of Clare Adamson’s speech when she alluded to the working conditions of the time was particularly moving.
As recently as the mid-1970s, manufacture of steel involved the dangerous production of iron in a blast furnace and then transfer of cold pig iron or liquid iron to an open furnace to be mixed and melted and to be poured, moulded or fabricated. The open furnaces have been replaced by oxygen furnaces. A process that lasted 10 hours has been reduced drastically, and along with that—happily—there has been a reduction in the daily risks that face today’s workers.
I am truly grateful for being allowed to intervene, because I am very conscious that members have referred to the risks that were taken. John Park and others mentioned the role of the trade unions. I am concerned that no one has mentioned the fact that towards the end of the period of steel in the UK, the trade unions became a spur for health and safety legislation—some of which we sometimes now berate, but which has transformed in a generation the safety of our industrial processes.
Nigel Don is correct. The role of the trade unions in achieving the establishment of health and safety legislation across many industries is well documented. The existence of that legislation has enabled us to avoid even greater loss of life. Therefore, that is a debt that we rightly acknowledge tonight.
Ravenscraig was western Europe’s largest producer of hot stripped steel, which was processed at Gartcosh. It also produced slab steel for shipbuilding and offshore oil platform construction.
As this is the 20th anniversary of the closure of Ravenscraig, which at its height supported 13,000 Lanarkshire jobs, it is fitting that we remember the significant contribution and sacrifices of our steel workers to our economic and social history.
The site is now extremely different, of course. I am pleased that we will see Ravenscraig as the country’s first new town in more than 50 years and one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe, covering 450 hectares—an area that is equivalent to 700 football pitches and that is, I am told, twice the size of Monaco. Ravenscraig will become home to more than 10,000 people and is expected to create 12,000 jobs and to attract in excess of £1,200 million of private sector investment over the next 15 to 20 years. That, in itself, is a form of tribute. The creation of a memorial on the site would provide a lasting reminder to the new residents and their families of the important place that Ravenscraig has in our industrial history.
I was struck by the number of speeches by members who have personal connections with Ravenscraig, whether through family or through political campaigning and other activity of various types over the years. I am sure that all of us in the chamber will very much welcome the call for recognition of the contribution of the workforce, and for a lasting memorial.
Future generations will also—as they should—be able to remember our steelworking heritage. I recommend the Education Scotland website as an excellent resource for anyone, but particularly for any young person who wants to know more about the history of steel making in Scotland. The resource on the website includes a site record of the Ravenscraig steelworks by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, which includes digital images, drawings and facts about the mill. Those are a poignant reminder of the size and scope of Ravenscraig, and a reminder of the people who worked there. That website is a form of virtual memorial to the people who worked there for such a long time and who gave so much to Scotland.
I pay tribute to the eloquent speeches that members from all parties have made. It is a fitting debate that has been dignified and interesting. I am delighted that we have had the opportunity to discuss the subject and I pay particular thanks to Clare Adamson for bringing the debate to Parliament. I am sure that her grandfather would be proud of her. I am equally sure that the planned memorial, which is to be designed by Andy Scott, will be a fitting tribute to Scotland’s steelworkers.
Meeting closed at 17:52.