Opportunities for steelmakers in new Infrastructure Strategy – but competitive environment remains vital

19 June 2025

Millions of tonnes of steel will be needed for the Infrastructure Strategy investments in new nuclear capacity, regional transport, schools and prisons, announced today by the Government. The detailed outline of developments, to the tune of billions of pounds, are welcome news for the steel industry, with £14.2 billion investment announced for Sizewell C alone.

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, stated last week in her Spending Review speech that these projects should be made using UK-made steel. These infrastructure announcements, and the Government’s confidence in the UK steel sector’s production, offer a level of business clarity over the Government’s long term public procurement plans and how steel companies can support these ambitions and grow their own production.

A new Infrastructure Pipeline, to be published before recess, provides steelmakers with an opportunity to identify project opportunities and demonstrate their capacity and capability to supply into our public procurement needs. However, ongoing market confidence for steel companies will be cemented with truly competitive electricity prices, strategic domestic public procurement and reinforced trade defences.

UK Steel Director-General, Gareth Stace, said:

“Where public money is involved, British contracts should buy from British steel firms, boosting thousands of jobs and supply chains across the United Kingdom. The Infrastructure Strategy and forthcoming pipeline means the steel industry can take full advantage of these opportunities.

“UK steelmakers are holding up their end of the bargain, working closely with the Government on reforms to the Policy Procurement Note for Steel and a digital steel catalogue to ensure procurement teams know what steel we make and where.

“To secure the success of our steel companies and the Government’s ambitions, the infrastructure plans must go hand-in-hand with competitive electricity prices, strategic domestic procurement and a new trade defence mechanism in 2026 to handle the influx of imported, high-emission steel.”

Jon Harrison, Regulatory Affairs Manager, UK Steel 
07743 829613 | jharrison@makeuk.org

Louise Young, Campaigns and Engagement Manager, UK Steel 
07388 370176 | Lyoung@makeuk.org

Notes to editors

The Government’s Infrastructure Strategy can be found here: CP 1344 – UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy Funding in the Strategy includes:

£1 billion to carry out maintenance on key transport infrastructure, including crumbling bridges, flyovers and crossing.
£590 million to start work on the Lower Thames Crossing.
£16 billion of new public investment will help build over 500,000 new homes, which will also unlock over £53bn of private investment according to the Government.
Great British Energy and Great British Energy – Nuclear will together invest more than £8.3 billion over the parliament in clean power sources.
Ministry of Defence to invest £5.1 billion into modern and sustainable buildings.
The Government will publish a Statement of Strategic Priorities for GBE later in 2025.

Change in procurement practices:

To ensure that infrastructure investment supports businesses and creates jobs in the UK, the government is reforming our approach to public procurement, seeking to make it simpler and more commercial. The new National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February, set out the government’s strategic priorities for public procurement, aligned with the Missions and including the modern Industrial Strategy.
The Government will launch a consultation on further reforms to the Procurement Act 2023 to ensure public contracts create high quality jobs and boost skills in the communities that most need them.
Driving consistency: supporting departments to apply a consistent approach to procurement practices to enable earlier industry involvement in the design and delivery to ensure the best performance from supply chains and to deliver social and economic value.

UK Steel procurement recommendations: UK Steel’s Public Procurement Report (2024) recommends:

Public Procurement Contracts: The UK Government should use the contribution our steel industry makes to national security to mandate or incentivise the use of UK-made steel, where possible, for projects of energy, defence, and related infrastructure via domestic content stipulations in contracts where public funding or subsidy is involved utilising World Trade Organisation (WTO) opt-outs.
Contracts for Difference (CfDs): In future auctions, the Government should evaluate the bidders’ contributions to sustainability, resilience, and local content, with these criteria applying to at least 30% of the volume auctioned annually, as the EU is currently implementing without challenge in its Net Zero Industry Act.
Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: These should be required to adhere fully to the Procurement Policy Note for Steel and, given their criticality for our economy, be subject to local content requirements of not below 30%.
Procurement Policy Note for Steel (PPN): The existing PPN should be strengthened to require developers and public bodies to justify why they did not use UK-made steel, if it was available, and require a mandatory consultation of the forthcoming UK Steel Digital Catalogue.

UK Steel’s Defence Procurement Position Paper (2024) outlines a template to strengthen the supply UK-made steel into MOD, highlighting that:

The industry should be represented at key points on a Defence Suppliers Forum.
There is a need to formalise pre-procurement dialogue to demonstrate UK steelmakers’ capacity and capabilities and this process should be embedded in the MOD Strategic Partnering Programme (SPP), to increase transparency and align project needs with domestic capacity.
Steel should be formally recognised as a strategic asset as the industry is essential to national security for domestic supply.
The MOD should follow best practice set out by other Departments to adhere to the Government’s own Procurement Policy Note for Steel.
Mandate a percentage of domestic steel content as allowed by World Trade Organisation rules.
Government should provide a clearer definition of ‘social value’ in defence contracting and explain how it influences procurement decisions, especially under PPN 06/20.

About UK Steel:

UK Steel is the trade association for the UK steel industry. It represents all the country’s steelmakers and most downstream steel processors.

The UK steel sector:  
Produced 4Mt of crude steel in 2024 and supplied 30% of the UK's annual demand of 9.2Mt
Employs 36,800 people directly in the UK and supports a further 46,000 in supply chains
The median steel sector salary is £39,245, 24% higher than the UK national median and 33% higher than the regional median in Wales, and Yorkshire & Humberside where its jobs are concentrated
Directly contributes £1.7 billion to UK GVA and supports a further £2.2 billion
Directly contributes £3.1 billion to the UK’s balance of trade
96% of steel used in construction and infrastructure in the UK is recovered and recycled to be used again and again