As the son of a former steelworker who grew up in a steelmaking community, I know how important steel is.

It’s why I’ve spearheaded the campaign to back those steelworkers ripped off in the British Steel Pension Scheme scandal and its why I voted to back Labour's long-term plan for the steel industry.

I have been saying for some time now that UK government and Tata’s plan is rushed and short-sighted. We all know that there is a need to decarbonise the industry, but this is not the way to do it.

We should not be spending billions to make thousands of people redundant and risk leaving the UK as the first developed country in the world without the means of producing primary steel.

We should not be offshoring our emissions, importing steel from other, emission-heavy, countries and calling it progress.

This is a plan that devastates the industry and severely undermines faith in the transition to green steel and the opportunities it could and should provide.

This is, simply, the wrong deal for steel.

As Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business Jonathan Reynolds pointed out during the debate, it is easy to claim to have decarbonised any industry by just shutting it down.

But it would be a huge mistake for the UK to become the first major economy in the world without the ability to make our own virgin steel, not least for our national defence capabilities.

There are big questions over the quality of the recycled steel being produced by electric arc furnaces and being able to make our own steel is vital for defence projects such as building warships.

This is not an issue we can afford to get wrong. We must be sensible and serious in our approach, avoiding any catastrophic mistakes that cannot be easily undone.

The UK government must take a look at the multi-union plan which sets out a credible alternative to protect steel jobs and protect our planet.

UK steel should have a bright future. This should be an optimistic time for steelworkers and steelmaking communities.

The green future cannot be at the expense of jobs and national defence.

Labour has earmarked £3bn of investment from our spending plans to secure the industry's long-term future.

We have a plan to build a better Britain, and we want to build it with steel made in the UK. We need our steel.