How will you vote in the EU referendum? (Thread 2)

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/03/sajid-javid-spurned-welsh-steel-crisis-talks-us-conference

Javid said at the weekend that the timing of Tata's announcement caught him by surprise. That's because he didn't go to the meeting about it over a month ago.
If he had, he would not have gone to Australia or to the US.

Javid should be sacked.

"He is clearly making it up as he goes along. We need leadership and direction and so do steelworkers, their families and their communities. Sajid Javid should consider his position or David Cameron should consider getting someone in who can actually do the job. Too much is at stake for incompetent, confused and lazy leadership at this critical time.”

John McDonnell's view on it.

ThyssenKrupp has been in negotiations to take over. We should stay in the EU, and let ThyssenKrupp take over Port Talbot. I see no point in allowing another Indian company take it over. The same thing could happen again in a couple of years time.

news.sky.com/story/1671109/china-hits-steel-made-in-uk-with-46-percent-levy

Port Talbot steel is exported to China, and will have a 46% levy on it, but our government is stopping the EU from putting a similar levy on Chinese imports.
The Chinese must be laughing their heads off at the stupidity of the UK.

Yes, I'll be voting to stay in to have the EU have some control over Cameron and Osborne. They seem to be treating it like some huge Monopoly game for the benefit of themselves and their friends.

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3519954/Should-Save-Steel-One-Mail-columnist-argues-s-strategic-national-asset-vital-Britain-s-future-security-dismisses-dying-industry-no-taxpayer-cash-revive.html

An interesting article I thought.

Though I think it has gone off topic from the op.

"The big charge against Mr Javid, and perhaps even more strongly against his patron George Osborne, is that in the end they have always been prepared to let the UK steel industry go rather than fight for it as a strategic national asset. They are willing to do that because their highest priority is neither the protection of the steel industry nor doctrinaire laissez-faire economics so much as ensuring the long-term investment of Chinese capital in British infrastructure projects that, for domestic political reasons, cannot be financed by taxation."

From this editorial
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/01/the-guardian-view-on-the-steel-crisis-port-talbot-matters-more-than-china

China did this before, in 2010, on imports of this steel from the US, who raised a dispute with the world Trade Organisation about the way that China had done the sums to show that the steel was unfairly low priced. This WTO report is an account of the long-drawn-out proceedings, with panels, appeals etc.
China — Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties on Grain Oriented Flat-rolled Electrical Steel from the United State

Eventually, " On 31 August 2015, China informed the DSB that the anti-dumping and countervailing duty measures on imports of “GOES” from the US expired on 10 April 2015."

It looks as though they are going for tariffs on steel from elsewhere, as the one on US steel didn't stick.

The Chinese government said it had slapped the tariff on “grain-oriented electrical steel” imported from the European Union, South Korea and Japan. It justified the move by saying imports from abroad were causing substantial damage to its domestic steel industry.

Tata Steel, whose subsidiary Cogent Power makes the hi-tech steel targeted by the levy in Newport, south Wales, was unable to say on Friday whether any Cogent products are exported to China.

China has placed a levy on British steel. Is this an April fool's joke?

i2.wp.com/voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/160401osbornesteel.jpg?w=620

For you, Jess.

I should have added that Osborne etc care more about trade with China than they do about the UK steel industry.

A long read about the steel industry problems.

medium.com/mosquito-ridge/steel-crisis-they-do-not-give-a-shit-86516750a1e0

The company is everywhere.

libertyhouseuk.com/

Offices in London, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.

I do not know, Jalima. I have been trying to find out about him, but no luck so far.
However, this is interesting.

www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/03/tories-deliberately-collapsed-british-steel/

There's an April fool's joke in every paper today, that the government is doing everything it can for steel workers.

The problem welshwife is that they don't give a toss in Downing St because they don't expect to win any votes in Port Talbot and none of their mates are in the steel industry. So why should they care?

durhamjen Is Gupta British based though?
I understood he has lived here since his student days - where is his firm based? His home is in Wales I think.

Anyone earning more than £35,000 a year will be welcomed into the UK. Footballers can earn that a month.

And the Chinese industry is 80% owned by the state. That's why they can dump cheap steel on the market. The state picks up the tab.

Is there any reason to suppose soccer players would not be given visas if they needed them?

This steel industry makes me so cross. Someone on the radio today said it is just the functioning of the free market - but this market has been rigged by the Chinese to distort the market. How can the government countenance the UK having no industry producing this vital material?

Lazi it seems about 400 players would be affected and need visas - about half the Premier League - according to the BBC today.

Ecotricity is the home grown one, though, Jalima.

Why can the government not see that we need to research and invest in renewables?
It's alright allowing a foreign company to do all that, but he could just as easily pull out, like Tata is doing, and we will have the same problem all over again.

I thought this was interesting too, from my link above:
The group has interests in steel, power and energy, industrials, financial services and property. It has also bought a minority stake in Tidal Lagoon Power.
This plans to harness the power of the sea to generate electricity, starting with a £1billion project in Swansea Bay.
So his business interests are not just limited to one area.

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/03/30/britain-sacrifices-steel-industry-to-curry-favour-with-china/

This is why.

"Gupta puts part of the blame on Brussels and the time it takes for the European Union to act.

His view on the EU is timely. So, is he in favour of Britain leaving the EU – the so-called Brexit?

‘I’m torn,’ he says. ‘For my industry I think it’s a good thing (to leave), but personally I don’t. As a world, we need to integrate more.

'The Government doesn’t have the freedom to act because it has to go through Brussels. Everything takes forever.’

Gupta urges the Government to take further action to lower the cost of power for energy-intensive industries."

This is from your article, Jalima, which fits in strangely with my link.
It's the government which has been stopping the EU by using its veto. Why?

I am reading the book, railman. Lots of things in it and on taxresearch make me angry.

i2.wp.com/voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/160331steelsacrifice.png?w=600

This is not on taxresearch. It's about British steel. It makes me extremely angry. It means that whatever the Tories are saying at the moment is a load of lies - again.

Further story on the steel question:

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3516027/Is-man-save-British-steel-Indian-commodities-magnate-bucking-trend-investing-struggling-plants.html