Member

The second problem with Reform’s new clause 5 is that it misses the point of the Bill. This Bill is not about a national strategy on steel—one was published, as I have just mentioned. The proposed law before us deals with specific questions of ownership and with Government intervention in specific steel undertakings. My concern is that subsection (2) risks fundamentally undermining any steel company that might be acquired by the Government. Why? Because by requesting the publication of internal strategies, investment plans and the various things mentioned in the new clause, it risks asking the Government to release into the public domain highly sensitive commercial information about that new public corporation—information that I know, having spoken to people in the sector, other commercial steel operators would be unlikely to publish.