From Empire to Europe: The Decline and Revival of British Industry Since the Second World War

The strip mill decision appeased the regional lobbies at the cost of depriving the industry of the economies which a single works would have provided. As one commentator wrote, ‘the greatest economic advantage would be sacrificed deliberately in the interests of immediate social comfort and convenience’.

It was to some extent a repetition of the political battle which had taken place in the 1930s over the location of the first strip mill. Firth’s original plan had been to build the works at Immingham in Lincolnshire, but he came under intense political and trade union pressure not to desert South Wales, where Richard Thomas was a large employer. Ebbw Vale was an awkward, inland site which had many disadvantages compared to Immingham.

Thus the partnership between industry and government which was reestablished after denationalisation did nothing to alter the insularity of steel policy in Britain. Yet there was no sense at the end of the 1950s that the steel-makers were failing the nation. Prices were lower than on the Continent and the problem of shortages was easing. Even if the objectives set out in the first development plan had not been fulfilled, a substantial investment programme had been carried through, and it included some impressive projects – among them the Port Talbot strip mill, Dorman Long’s universal beam mill at Lackenby on Teesside, and a major iron-making expansion by United Steel at Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire.