UK Deploys Emergency Measures To Save British Steel Furnaces (X image @Rotherhambugle)

North Lincolnshire, UK: Britain expressed confidence in securing enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces burning at Scunthrope, the last makers of virgin steel. The development comes after the government seized operational control from its Chinese owners. The UK government said that British Steel’s owners, China’s Jingye Group, had wanted to shut the furnaces after they rejected a government funding proposal, a move which would force Britain to import steel instead.

Marking history, UK government recalled Parliament for an emergency weekend sitting, the first Saturday recall since the 1982 Falklands War, to pass the one-day emergency legislation and giving it powers to direct the company’s board and workforce, as well as to order raw materials. By Monday, it had approved the appointment of an interim chief executive and chief commercial officer, both of whom are long-term employees of the plant, and said it had established that enough raw materials were in the country.

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds told media that the emergency government steel action meant there was now a “high trust bar” for Chinese companies to invest in critical UK industries.

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A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said two shipments containing iron ore, pellets and coking coal had docked at a local port, with a third on its way. “We are now confident in securing the supply of materials needed,” the spokesperson told reporters. “Obviously we’ll be working with management to identify further raw materials needed to keep a steady pipeline and to keep the furnaces burning”, the spokesman said, as quoted by media.

The Treasury Department Minister James Murray on Monday said that the focus was on getting the materials into the blast furnaces, and added that if the government had not acted on Saturday the blast furnaces would have shut down. A number of businesses, including India’s Tata and local distributor Rainham Steel, have also offered managerial support and raw materials, as per the report.

Jingye bought British Steel in 2019. The Chinese owner had stopped ordering more raw materials and begun selling off its supplies, declining an offer of £500m in support and refusing to guarantee the furnaces could continue operating.

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Reynolds told Sky News that there was a “high trust bar” for bringing Chinese investment into the UK and added that he would not have allowed a Chinese company to invest in the “sensitive” steel sector. He said that the company had annual losses of £233m and that figure “can be improved upon”.