Last week's poll: Protecting UK steel

Protecting the UK steel industry from cheap Chinese imports would help the sector most, according to Engineer readers

There can be no doubt what our readers think would be the greatest help to the UK's crisis-hit steelworkers, whose future remains in the balance this week as industry secretary Sajid Javid prepares to fly to India to discuss the issue with the current owners of threatened steelworks in Port Talbot and Scunthorpe and to meet a prospective buyer of the loss-making business, Sanjeev Gupta of commodities firm Liberty House, which bought the mothballed steelworks at Newport and the former Caparo business in Gwent last year. Of the 534 respondents to our poll, a clear majority, 55 per cent, said that the government should do more to protect the industry against low-cost imports of steel from China. The next biggest group, well down at 19 per cent of respondents, wanted more protection from energuy costs, while 12 per cent took the pessimistic view that we should just accept steel is a twilight industry with a limited future in the UK. Just 5 per cent thought that the costs associated with carbon emissions reduction was an important factor in the industry's troubles, while 2 per cent thought the business rates the industry pays should be reduced. Seven per cent of respondents declined to pick one of our suggested options.

Please continue to let us know your opinions on this subject as the situation develops/