Speeches by McAllister.

“But you have had no orders in the past year.”

“Good morning. As I understand it, operations at Dalzell are currently—you used the phrase—mothballed, with workers either furloughed or assigned to maintenance duty. Do I have that correct? I take it that no steel is being processed at present. Is that right?”

“Before we move on to a potential start-up date, can I try to get an understanding of how we reached that position in the first place? What is your understanding as to the reasons why Scotland’s largest steel plant was mothballed?”

“When was it mothballed?”

“Which company is that?”

“Who owns Liberty Steel?”

“Where does Greensill Capital come into it?”

“It is just GFG that is the owner.”

“Do you think that it has contributed towards the collapse of steel manufacturing, therefore, in Scotland?”

“Who should that capital come from?”

“Has GFG not received substantial funding from Governments?”

“Whose decision is that?”

“Was it GFG?”

“So GFG has taken the decision not to seek orders.”

“Jacqui, do you want to enlighten us on all that?”

“Do you think that the Government saving Scunthorpe demonstrates the strategic importance for not just Scunthorpe but the whole of the UK?”

“I know that this is perhaps difficult for you to answer. How long do you think you can keep that going for before you have to look for other orders coming in? That is maybe unfair.”

“How could we have avoided the situation where Scotland’s only steel plant then was mothballed and no longer seeking orders? You are suggesting that this was as a lack of Government intervention. We had two Governments over the last 14 years: a Scottish Government and a UK Government. The suggestion earlier in your evid…”

“We need to understand how we reached this situation.”

“There was not a steel strategy.”