Tory ministers were today urged to do “whatever it takes” to save the UK’s second biggest steel firm.
British Steel’s Chinese owner Jingye has reportedly signalled its two blast furnaces at Scunthorpe will not be commercially viable without hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash.
The firm employs about 4,000 people in the town, with thousands more workers in supply chains.
Those posts could be plunged into jeopardy without urgent intervention, it was claimed.
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Jingye is thought to be demanding hundreds of millions of pounds to keep the furnaces burning.
Community steelworkers’ union national officer Alun Davies said: “These reports are extremely concerning and Jingye and the Government must do whatever it takes to secure the future of steelmaking at British Steel.
“Jingye promised to invest billions and their loyal workforce, who have been working tirelessly to turn the business around, expect the owners to live up to their moral and social responsibilities.
“The Government must step up and come to an agreement with Jingye, and we look to the new Prime Minister to demonstrate her commitment to British jobs and industrial communities.”
British Steel’s future was first thrown into turmoil in early 2020 when its investment fund owners Greybull Capital decided to pull out.
It had bought the firm for a token pound in 2016 and revived the famous name.
Buying the company in March 2020 for a reported £50million, Far East giant Jingye Group vowed to modernise operations in Scunthorpe and Teesside as part of the deal.
It pledged to invest £1.2billion into the operation over the next five years.
But if the blast furnaces are switched off, Jingye could import steel from China to roll at British Steel's UK sites, according to Sky News.
Mr Davies said: “The unions want to work with Jingye to build a long-term sustainable business, but we will never accept British Steel becoming a re-rolling operation for steel imports.
“Closing down UK steelmaking capacity and replacing it with high carbon imports from China or anywhere else would weaken our country and make a mockery of the Government’s net-zero commitments.
“The Government invested hundreds of millions to support the rebirth of British Steel under Jingye, so to allow this strategically important business to fail would represent a betrayal of their responsibilities to the taxpayer.”
A British Steel spokesman said: "We are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in our long-term future, but like most other companies we are facing a significant challenge because of the economic slowdown, surging inflation and exceptionally high energy and carbon prices.”
A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “The Government is working at pace with the company to understand the best way forward as it seeks to secure a more sustainable future.
“We recognise that businesses are feeling the impact of high global energy prices, particularly steel producers, which is why we have announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to bring down costs.
“This is in addition to extensive support we have provided to the steel sector as a whole to help with energy costs, worth more than £780m since 2013.”
The Mirror has been campaigning to Save Our Steel since 2015.
