Scunthorpe's steel and Birmingham's bins: a tale of two Labours

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Panic has subsided over the British Steel crisis as Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, while visiting the site in Scunthorpe, confirmed that the raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running have been secured. While questions remain over the long-term future of the site, the Government are quite confident in their handling of the crisis so far – something not unhelpful with just over two weeks to go from the local elections. Less helpful is the news that over in Birmingham workers have rejected a pay deal with the Labour-run city council; the bin strike will continue. Is there more the government could be doing to end the dispute?

Political editor Katy Balls and former Political Secretary to Tony Blair John McTernan join Patrick Gibbons to discuss.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis, and unrivaled books and arts reviews.
0:06.1	Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online.
0:11.2	Alongside that, you get a 20-pound John Lewis or Waitrose Voucher.
0:14.7	Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.
0:31.7	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, The Spectators' Daily Politics Podcast.
0:35.8	I'm Patrick Gibbons, and today I'm joined by The Spectator's political editor, Katie Balls, and former political secretary to Tony Blair, John McTernan. The future of British Steel continues to dominate the news during
0:42.2	Easter recess. At the start of the day, there was some confusion about the raw materials needed
0:46.1	to keep the site going, but the government has confirmed that they've secured them. Visiting
0:50.0	the site in Scunthor today, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rainer was able to say that the
0:54.5	furnaces would continue to burn. But the question remains for how long? John, the government
0:59.6	have been quite confident over their handling of the crisis. Is Raina's visit a further show
1:03.8	of this? Yes, I think so. And you've got a government now, which has shown confidence
1:08.5	internationally over Ukraine, or over the relationships with President
1:12.7	Trump, cutting aid, to put into defense, all kinds of things, real confidence internationally.
1:19.2	Now I'm starting to see some confidence about its position domestically and not afraid to
1:25.0	nationalize.
1:25.6	The nationalization of the railways was expected. Nationalizing
1:28.7	steel, not so much. And it's a sign that Labor will define the national interest in a very
1:34.4	nationalist way, a patriotic way as well, and it's good to see, actually. And it shows you, once again,
1:40.7	the influence of the unions on this Labour government the unions were the people who got
1:44.7	the pay rise immediate pay rises from rachel reeves last year the unions are who got new rights
1:49.3	from angela reina in her in her bill that's going through parliament and now community one of the
	...

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