UK takes control of British Steel under emergency law
LONDON
The U.K. government said it was taking control of Chinese-owned British Steel on April 12 after rushing an emergency law through parliament to avert the shutdown of the country's last factory that can make steel from scratch.
The struggling plant in northern England had faced imminent closure and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his government "stepped in to save British Steel" with legislation to prevent its blast furnaces going out.
At a rare weekend session, parliament approved the law without opposition to take over the running of the Scunthorpe site, which employs several thousand people and produces steel crucial for U.K. industries including construction and rail transport.
The government saw its possible closure as a risk to Britain's long-term economic security, given the decline of the U.K.'s once robust steel industry.
Following its approval Starmer said his administration was "turning the page on a decade of decline" and "acting to protect the jobs of thousands of workers."
Facing questions about nationalisation in parliament, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said state ownership "remains on the table" and may be the "likely option."
But he said the scope of the legislation was more limited. It "does not transfer ownership to the government," he explained, saying this would have to be dealt with at a later stage.
The Chinese owners have said it is no longer financially viable to run the two furnaces at the site, where up to 2,700 jobs have been at risk.
Jingye bought British Steel in 2020 and says it has invested more than 1.2 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) to maintain operations but is losing around 700,000 pound a day.
