Conservative leader Badenoch released a statement on Friday saying she had put plans in place to introduce a new electric arc furnace at first Teesside and then later Scunthorpe. But when the Teeside deal failed, the entire plan collapsed.
Sitting opposite him in Parliament, Badenoch was furious. The Tories suspect Labour didn’t pass the Teeside deal because it would have handed a win to the regional Conservative Mayor, Ben Houchen.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds speaking during the debate on draft legislation giving the Government “the power to direct steel companies in England” to protect British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant (Photo: House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire)
MPs and peers were back called back from their break to debate a bill to give control to ministers over Chinese-owned British Steel, the country’s last virgin steelmaker. The bill passed by acclamation in just over four hours, without a vote count, and was later due to clear the House of Lords.
Jingye, however, was portrayed as the true villain. According to Reynolds, the government’s tireless negotiations, including a generous offer to maintain plant operations, were rejected by the company’s “irrational” demand for an excessive amount. The company declined to comment.
Reynolds confirmed the UK won’t make a substantial financial commitment to nationalizing British Steel should it become necessary.
“We would in a situation where the state transfers a change of ownership to it, pay the fair market value for those assets. Now, in this case, the market value is effectively zero,” he said.
British Steel Scunthorpe site on April 12, 2025 in Scunthorpe, England. (Photo by Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)Welsh MPs described the Scunthorpe bailout as a bitter blow following Tata Steel’s Port Talbot collapse last September, after incurring daily losses of £1.7m.
The bill’s most contentious aspect was the absence of a sunset clause defining the expiration of Reynolds’s expanded authority. He pledge to revisit the issue in with a vote in six months and provide regular updates to Parliament’s Business Committe. He had argued any time limit could bind his hands in negotiations with the company.
Reynolds may well need to use those powers pretty quickly. British Steel workers saw off a delegation of Chinese executives attempting to access critical parts of the Scunthorpe steelworks on Saturday morning amid fears they were trying to force the closure of the plant, and the police were called.
Sir Keir Starmer met with British Steel workers in Appleby Village Hall near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire (Photo: Peter Byrne/PA)When I visited the Scunthorpe steel works in February, I found a small but determined band of highly skilled workers committed to the plant which serves as the lifeblood of the town.
square POLITICS ExclusiveUK facing 'countdown clock' to get fuel to British Steel plant before furnaces close
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Inside, the 2,700 workers wear protective wool clothing that means if they’re splashed by the liquid iron running at 1,500 degrees Celsius from the blast furnace, it will glance off them as glass droplets.
Despite the rapid Saturday passage of the bill, the plant’s future remains uncertain; Reynolds faces challenges: selling the money-losing facility, managing the company, and countering Badenoch’s potential opposition. She’s unlikely to take his accusations about her record lying down.
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