“The community of Scunthorpe exists because of the iron ore that we sit on. The town is here because of the steel industry. We lose the steel industry, we lose the town.”
Tony Gosling has been a proud steelworker at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe since 1981.
Mr Gosling is now one of around 2,700 workers at risk of losing their jobs after the Chinese owners of British Steel, Jingye, announced that it was starting consultations on redundancies amid plans to close two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations.
Mr Gosling, a Community trade union representative at Scunthorpe’s blast furnaces, said that it has been “a very worrying time” since the news broke.
“My wife also works in the steel industry in the Rail Service Centre, so it’s both of our jobs that are under threat,” the 59-year-old told The i Paper.
“I’m in a more mature stage of my working life, but it’s devastating for young people who are setting out in life, with their mortgages, their young families, or plans to have young families.”
Such is the state of the steel plant that MPs have been recalled to pass what is expected to be emergency law to renationalise the works in order to keep the furnances open.
There are roughly 4,500 jobs that are directly related to the steel industry, the companies that supply the steelworks and the local businesses that support the workers.
British Steel will effectively taken over by the Government following the vote on Saturday (Photo: Darren Staples/Getty)“There are a lot of small businesses that rely on the money and the income that you generate from the steel industry to support them – the cafes, the restaurants, the pubs, the shopping centre,” Gosling explains. “There’s a lot of fear within the community, a lot of worry, because nobody knows what the future holds.”
And it is the community’s identity that is under threat, too. Steelmaking has defined Scunthorpe for 160 years; the town’s identity is etched into steel.
“It’s about the community,” says Mr Gosling. “It’s about the town. It’s not just a factory job, it’s a passion. You’re born into the steel community, and you grow up knowing about the steel industry, and hopefully you’ll work there one day. It’s just in us. That’s what we are, steelworkers.”
“We’ve supplied steel through two World Wars,” Mr Gosling adds. “Scunthorpe steel has built tanks and ships in the past; we’ve been there at the very cutting edge. And when a lot of the men went off to war, females joined the steel industry to keep it going 24/7 during those periods, and we’ve contributed greatly to the world.”
“The steelworks in Scunthorpe has historical significance and has been providing jobs for a generation and serving as a community cornerstone,” echoes Roj Rahman, co-owner of the north Lincolnshire town’s football club and Mortz Property Services.
Roj Rahman, co-owner of the north Lincolnshire town’s football club“We’ve had many generations of people working there. I know personally three generations working at the same time: grandparents, parents and children. My father came here in the late ’50s and worked in the steelworks for over 30 years. At the end of the day, this is the identity of the people of Scunthorpe.”
Rahman, 54, conducted research a decade ago into the people who came to Scunthorpe to work at the steel plant. “We look back as far as the 20s and the 30s, from our Polish friends to the Ukrainians to the Italians to the Irish, all the way to the Indian subcontinent in the late 50s, early 60s, who all came to work at the steelworks, worked hard, contributed to the economy, contributed to the development of the area.
“To think now that we’re going to lose one of the biggest plants in the country and in addition 2,700 jobs, the impact is massive. It will cripple us and bring us to our knees.
“A lot of people are despondent, there’s a lot of fear. How will people pay their bills if they lose their job? How will they put food on the table?
“We’re living in a time of economic crisis. The government has to intervene. There has to be a subsidy to keep this going or nationalisation. I keep hearing that the steelworks is losing a lot of money – the government spent a lot of money during Covid that could have been spent more wisely. The government has a responsibility to look after its people: we, the British people, in our hour of need.”
Jingye has said the Scunthorpe site makes losses of £700,000 a day and is not viable. There have been months of back-and-forth negotiations between the Chinese owned company and the government. These broke down after Jingye rejected a £500m offer from the government to keep the furnaces open.
The government has also reportedly offered to buy the coking coal essential to keep steel production running. British Steel warned the raw materials were running out after Jingye cancelled future orders of the iron ore, coal and other resources essential to operation.
If the furnaces are shuttered, the UK will lose its ability to produce virgin steel.
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“The government has an agenda to build 1.5mn homes,” MR Gosling says. “That’s construction steel that will be used in those homes. We produce construction steel, it’s one of our base products. So if you’ve got a massive building agenda, you need our steel. And if you don’t have your own capability to supply the market, you will be importing, paying high tariffs and high prices.”
Mr Gosling said he was “very enthused” by a speech he heard Sir Keir Starmer making on the radio on Friday “regarding steel and what it means to the UK and his intention to retain primary steelmaking in the UK”.
“I’m absolutely delighted that the real politician in the country we needed to stand up for us and say something, the Prime Minister, has done that.”
Parliament has been recalled from Easter recess on Saturday so that MPs can debate draft legislation to protect the British Steel Plant, Starmer has said. The legislation would enable ministers to “take control” of the site and stop Jingye closing its blast furnaces.
It is the fifth time since World War Two that Parliament has sat on a Saturday. The last time parliament was recalled was on 18 August 2021 to debate the situation in Afghanistan.
Much of the Scunthorpe community has come together in support of the steelworkers. A protest will be held along the perimeter of British Steel on 18 April. Last week, Community Union and Unite the Union, which represent the workers, collaborated with Scunthorpe United FC to offer free tickets to steelworkers. 50 tickets were distributed among members for the home game on 12 April.
“There’s always been a partnership between the steelworks and the football club, even from the days of the donkey jackets and the flat caps” says Mr Rahman.
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