Job losses are hurting, factory closures saddening, de-industrialisation dispiriting

All while Sir Keir seems more interested in his sky-high air miles than Miliband’s Net Zero madness

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025

A man who’s seen it all offers a stern warning about the visible damage and urges a fast U-turn

We don’t need to suggest Sir Keir might want to look away from this guest article – we don’t see any signs he’s interested and in any case his busy international flight itinerary seems to preoccupy him far more than the accelerating decimation of what still remains of the United Kingdom’s industrial base.

The fact is that the de-industrialisation of the birthplace of the industrial revolution is alarming and the culprit is not hard to find. Across the country, factory closures and job losses are biting: will the Government wake up to the self-harm of its policies, many of them emanating from the altar of Net Zero fanaticism?

Photo right: A Swedish teenager invited to London to teach government and other parties about industrial policy and energy. (Also pictured: Ed Miliband, Energy Secretary, Lord Michael Gove, Conservative, Layla Moran MP, LibDems)

In this guest article for Facts4EU, the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood provides examples of the rapid decline and warns of Net Zero madness and import over-reliance. With the UK’s third-largest steelworks going into liquidation just before the weekend, this warning could not be more timely.

The government must wake up to the reality of self-harm caused by Net Zero extremism and exacerbated by its tax policies

By the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood

High energy prices, bans on making and extracting things, changed UK tariff policies and high taxes are making a toxic mix. The factory and company closures are coming thick and fast, doing grave damage to the UK industrial base and losing us many jobs.

The green shoots of cleaner fuel wither

Top of the news this week is the closure of most of the bio ethanol industry. It makes fuel from grains. Both the large Redcar and Hull works are at risk, and closure has begun. Bioethanol was meant to be one of the bright spots for green growth , offering a fuel that is to be gradually introduced into petrol and into aviation spirit to cut their fossil fuel dependence. E10 unleaded petrol is 10% ethanol with more to come. Sustainable aviation fuel is promised and that could also require bio ethanol.

The abolition of the 19% tariff on US imports has been the final blow to an industry hit by higher energy and employment costs. These closures also put at risk domestic CO2 supply as this is also produced at one of the plants. It will cut demand for wheat and grains from UK farms damaged by government tax changes. It is another set of policies undermining UK economic security, and forcing us to find the money to import more. Imports mean paying the wages and taxes of overseas countries, not our own. How do we earn our living?

Closure of refineries ‘an industrial disaster’

We have just seen the closure of two large oil refineries at Grangemouth and Lindsey, making us more dependent on imported fuels and oil products. The damage at Grangemouth is not over yet, with the threat that the large olefins and polymers petrochemical plant will also have to close, driven out by high energy costs.

Sabic has announced its closure of another olefins plant at Wilton with the possible loss of 330 jobs. An industrial nation needs to produce more of its own fuel and chemicals to keep the businesses dependent on these basics. The UK was an important exporter of refined oil products to the EU as well as meeting more domestic demand. Taken together with closing down our own oil and gas production which could have fed these works, it is an industrial disaster.

Household names disappearing off the shelves

The ceramics industry has been in full retreat for sometime. This has also been badly hit by dear energy which it needs for its kilns. This year Royal Staffordshire and Moorcroft have closed, following on Johnsons Tiles last year. Great names of a once flourishing industry are now available for foreign producers if they want to buy or licence the brands. Most of the jobs and tax revenues pass elsewhere. It’s hard to build all those extra homes without any materials

Nippon Electric has decided to close its large glass fibre facility in Wigan with another 250 jobs to go. Dunbar Cement says it will stop producing 700,000 tonnes a year that is needed by the construction industry owing to cost pressures. At Birtley the aluminium extrusion plant is being shut. Three aluminium door and window manufacturers are cutting capacity. The government wants construction led growth but it is casually allowing building material production to pass abroad, diluting the beneficial jobs effect of more building.

Steel yourselves…

The latest casualty to hit the headlines is the Yorkshire steel company, Speciality Steels. The government is now going to be paying the wages and plant costs to avoid up to 1500 redundancies and closures on top of its large commitment to the Scunthorpe blast furnaces and plant.

We need to be told how much all this is going to cost and what the longer term business plan is to get these businesses back into profitable activity.

[Credit: Liberty Steelworks, celebrating a pipeline contract win for net carbon storage in March 2025.]

Any potential buyer will want to know what the government will do about sky high energy costs and all the extra carbon and emissions taxes which make UK steel uncompetitive before they buy such a business.

This systematic destruction of our manufacturing base was the inevitable outcome of government policies

The government needs to wake up to the reality. This is not a series of one offs. It is not a chain of bad luck from different sources. It is the direct result of very expensive and unreliable energy, and of tax changes that make it dearer and less attractive to make things in the UK. The collapse outwards from the bad decision to wind down the UK oil and gas industry prematurely and abruptly with bans and early closures leads to the closure of petrochemicals and other feedstock dependent businesses.

Dear energy lies behind the collapse of our blast furnace steel making, our glass industry, and all other energy intensive industrial activities. We choose to watch and buy from a China that uses masses of cheap coal, and from an EU that still has plenty of coal and gas in the mix, with some of the gas still bought from Russia. Why is the government so mad keen on imports, and so negative about UK industry? Why the bans on making petrol cars here from 2030 when elsewhere they will still be made? Why agree to the closure of the Gryphon platform in the North Sea which could still be used to bring more oil and gas ashore? Another bizarre tragedy.

We can and must power up again

Can we end this self harm? Can we go for cheaper energy and understand that using our own gas would be so much better for jobs and taxes than turning to imports? Policy is even boosting world CO2 output at the same time. We need to make more things to help pay for the NHS and get more people back to work.

- By the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood, Bank Holiday Monday, 25 Aug 2025

Sir John publishes a daily diary which we recommend. It covers a great many topics on important matters of the day. You can read it here.

Observations

We would like to thank Sir John for this important article, written just as the government has to step in with an unknown amount of taxpayer money to prevent immediate job losses at the UK’s third-largest steelworks. As so often, he has his finger firmly on the pulse.

The real tragedy of this depressing list of closures and redundancies is that they were almost certainly preventable. Sadly, the list looks set to keep on growing.

Across the EU, countries are admitting their mistakes and rowing back on Net Zero. Even the mighty Commission is doing it. Apparently – and very unfortunately – this is one area which Sir Keir does not seem keen to include in his ‘dynamic re-alignment’ with the EU.

Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.

[ Sources: The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Bank Holiday Monday, 25 Aug 2025

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Reader Comments 10

1. Mr Sceptic , Monday, August 25, 2025, 11:26:

Depressing how Brexiteer John Redwood is shifting the narrative regarding the systematic destruction of the UK manufacturing base from blaming the EU to blaming our own UK government policies.
And John Redwood seems to have forgotten that his Conservative Party made the government policies between 2010 and 2024.

2. Sparky , Monday, August 25, 2025, 11:40:

1 MrS. I agree.

3. Gazzablack , Monday, August 25, 2025, 12:49:

1&2
.
Parties don't run governments. They don't even choose leaders
Many Tory JO's were as angry at Gov. decisions as anyone.
John Redwood was a frequent critic of the Tory government.
.

4. NH , Monday, August 25, 2025, 14:05:

John Redwood is not shifting the narrative at all. Between 2017 and 2024 the Conservatives increased wind turbines hugely but the prices they guaranteed were low and they continued coming down during this period. When the Labour party took over the auctions failed because the costs had increased. They decided to increase prices by 66% and they have continued to increase the guaranteed prices so they are now 256% higher than when the conservatives were in power (2023 prices).
.
The other major problem is when the wind is blowing at a reasonable pace they can not connect all of this energy to customers. Most wind farms are in remote locations and they are a long way from the high capacity transmission network which is mostly in the centre of the UK. The result is on many occasions 70% of the energy produced can not be used but we have to pay for it. This will change over time as they extend the network but it will take many years and it will be very expensive.
.
I don't blame Labour for the fact that costs have increased but they should have evaluated whether these prices are viable for industry before proceeding. As the new prices only apply to new installations, not installations before Labour came to power, we can expect prices to continue rising as new installations grow regardless of what happens to the the price of oil and gas.

5. Mr Sceptic , Monday, August 25, 2025, 14:21:

John Redwood voted with the Conservative Party whip roughy 96.7% of the time … hardly a ‘frequent critic of the Tory government’ and their policies.

6. Robert Mcdonald , Monday, August 25, 2025, 14:25:

3.3% is enough of a difference to prove he didn't tow the line... let's find a labour MP who stands against the current government as much.

7. WesternMuppet , Monday, August 25, 2025, 15:57:

I thought climate leadership and net zero were flagship policies of Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’.
Did Boris Johnson not argue that Brexit would facilitate rather than hinder net zero goals?
Did Boris Johnson not argue that net zero was a post-Brexit opportunity that would bring both clean energy sovereignty and re-industrialisation?
And is Boris Johnson not our hero who ‘Got Brexit Done’?

8. AlwaysBlameSomeoneElse , Monday, August 25, 2025, 20:26:

7 WesternMuppet. It is much more messed-up than John Redwood realises.

9. Old Albion , Tuesday, August 26, 2025, 06:15:

And while you all bicker about who said what. You overlook the salient point.
The UK contributes 1% of Global atmospheric Co2, that's 4 PPM (parts per million) So when our remaining industry is destroyed. When the land is covered with solar panels (that only work on sunny days and not at all at night) When the land and sea is smothered with turbines that only work when the wind is present but not too strong. When the land is covered with pylons to transmit this wonderful 'renewable' energy and UK net zero is achieved. We will have saved 4 PPM of Co2 !
The cost of all this is not millions, not Billions, but Trillions. All for Milliband and Ludicrous Labour to virtue signal to the world.
Oh and of course China and others will manufacture the goods we no longer make ourselves and export them to us. Thus increasing their Co2 emissions and adding in the emissions caused by transporting them half way across the world.
You couldn't make it up ......

10. KB , Tuesday, August 26, 2025, 13:06:

Old Albion (9): the figure is far less than 4ppm !
Most of the CO2 in the atmosphere is natural, 280ppm out of total of about 430ppm. So it is only the increase above 280ppm to be taken into account.
Then there is the fact that about half of CO2 emissions are taken out by natural processes: as the input of CO2 increases the planetary systems absorb more of it.
Also, I've seen a figure of 0.64% for the up-to-date UK share of global CO2 emissions.
There is a calculation somewhere on the Watts Up site which found the UK contribution to global temperature is about 0.0007 degrees, although I have probably misremembered the number of zeroes after the decimal point. Whatever, it is not measurable.

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