As regards the EU and trade deals is it really the job of the EU, or the UK government for that matter to negotiate trade deals that make raw materials more expensive!

I would have thought it was the opposite, get the best possible price for raw materials that will allow industries producing goods from these materials to compete on the world open market.  If you want to protect home base industries such as steel production then surely the answer to that has to be to ensure that government contracts use locally produced materials, (i.e. an indirect government subsidy).