Brian Wheeler
Political journalist
House of Commons
The British government takes control of British steel belonging to the Chinese after emergency legislation was precipitated by parliament in one day.
Affairs Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told deputies that the next probable stage of the government would be to nationalize the SCUTHORPE factory, which employs 2,700 people.
But he said that he had been forced to seek emergency powers to prevent the owners from closing Jingye to his two stove tops, which would have ended primary steel production in the United Kingdom.
The deputies and the peers were recalled from their Easter holidays to debate the legislation in an extremely rare Saturday of the two chambers of the Parliament. He has now received a royal consent after being adopted by the municipalities and the lords.
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Sir Keir Starmer met the Silers-Carreaux in a village room near the Scunthorpe factory
The BBC understands that representatives of the British government are on the SCUTHORPE site ready to take control of operations.
After the legislation was entrusted to Royal Assente, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Today, my government has intervened to save British Steel.
“We act to protect the jobs of thousands of workers, and all the options are on the table to secure the future of industry.”
He said that Steel Made in Great Britain “will be the backbone while we get the construction of Great Britain again”, adding: “Our industry is the pride of our history-and I want it to be our future too.”
Addressing Steelworkers earlier on Saturday in a village room near Scunthorpe, Sir Keir said: “You are the people who kept this.”
He came then that several hundred people, including Steelworkers and their families, participated in a march and a gathering at the Glanford Park stadium of SCUTHORPE United, chanting “We want our steel to come back”.
British steel worker Rob Barroclly told the BBC: “Our family, like many others, is built around the steers. Who knows … my boys could end up working there one day, if he can be saved.”
He added: “We hope the best, but we plan the worst.”
Meanwhile, it appeared that the police were called to steel work this morning after an alleged peace violation.
Jingye officials are regularly on the spot in recent days, and we think that relationships between them and workers have become more and more tense.
Sources told BBC News that when Jingye’s leaders arrived at the factory this morning, the automatic recognition scanners did not allow them to travel the barriers of the site.
Humberside police said the police had made checks and spoke to individuals, but that there was no concern raised and no arrest was made.
The legislation passing through the Parliament was not resisted by the opposition parties – but the conservatives declared that the government should have acts earlier and made “a total breakfast of this arrangement”.
The new law tends to reynolds to sweep the powers to control management and factory workers to ensure that production continues, including enclosure, if necessary, to secure assets.
But Jingye will keep the property for the moment.
The government hopes to be able to obtain private investments to save the losses factory, but the ministers concede that there is currently no company willing to make an offer.
In the municipalities, Reynolds acknowledged that public property was “the probable option”.
He said that the government “would pay the rate of the fair market” to shareholders in the event of nationalization but added: “In this case, the market value is actually zero.”
Keeping an open loss plant could be high for taxpayers.
But Reynolds insisted that it was in the “national interest” to maintain the ability to make steel from zero and he thought that the company had a future, especially since the government stimulated infrastructure expenses.
“Steel is fundamental for the industrial force of Great Britain, for our security and our identity as the main world power,” he told deputies.
He said he was forced to resume the use of the factory because Jingye, who bought British Steel in 2020, had rejected government offers to buy raw materials for the stove highs.
“Despite our offer to the substantial Jingye, they wanted much more. Frankly, an excessive amount. However, we remained attached to negotiation.
“But in recent days, it has become clear that Jingye’s intention was to refuse to buy enough raw materials to operate the high stoves, in fact, their intention was to cancel and refuse to pay the existing orders.
“The company would therefore have irrevocably and unilaterally closed the production of primary steel in British Steel.”
‘Transformation’
The deputy chief of Reform UK, Richard Tice, urged the government to “show your cojones” and to go further by fully nationalizing British Steel “this weekend”.
Several conservative deputies have also spoken in favor of nationalization. The spokesperson for the Liberal Democratic Treasury, Daisy Cooper, said that the recall of the Parliament had been “absolutely the right thing to do”, but urged ministers to use “unprecedented legislation”.
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, now an independent deputy, has urged the government to nationalize all steel in the United Kingdom.
Green deputy Ellie Chowns said that steel was an integral part of “green industrial transformation” – including the manufacture of wind turbines, trains and tracks – and nationalization would give the United Kingdom the control it needs to renew the industry.
The government has been criticized for having acted to save the Scunthorpe factory, but not to take the same action when the Tata Steel works in Port Talbot was threatened with closing.
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Robert said it was a “bitter day for the inhabitants of Port Talbot”, when it urged the government to change the legislation to take control of what remains of the steers there.
SNP Westminster chief Stephen Flynn asked why the legislation only applies to England when an Scottish oil refinery faces the closure.
“Why will it not be extended to Scotland? Why is Grangemouth included?” He asked Reynolds, adding that the British government was “not interested in Scotland”.
Reynolds said that Grangemouth was “not comparable” to the situation of Scunthorpe, which, according to him, was “unique”.
“The question for all members is whether we, as a country, want to continue to have a steel industry, do we want to make construction steel and the rail we need here in the United Kingdom, or do we want to depend on imports abroad?” he said to the deputies.
