Closing summary
After a remarkable day, we’ll be closing this blog shortly. Here’s a summary of the day’s developments:
Proposals to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe blast furnaces have been approved by Parliament after an extraordinary sitting on Saturday.
Emergency legislation giving the government the power to instruct British Steel to keep the plant open passed both the Commons and Lords in a single day unopposed.
The TUC has welcomed the move, describing it as “the right thing to do and it’s in the national interest”.
Ministers had taken the unusual step of recalling Parliament from its Easter recess to sit on Saturday after negotiations with British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, appeared to break down.
Executives from Jingye were blocked from entering the Scunthorpe plant by workers and the police, sources confirmed to the Guardian. Workers feared Jingye executives might sabotage the works, according to a person briefed on events.
Meanwhile, the prime minister met British Steel workers near Scunthorpe, telling them: “You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognise that”
The government taking control of British Steel is “the right thing to do”, the TUC has said.
Commenting on the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill passing, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said:
The government stepping in to take control of British Steel is the right thing to do and it’s in the national interest.
It is right that Ministers do whatever it takes, including nationalisation, to secure the future of steel.
Steel is a foundation industry. This move will help to safeguard thousands of jobs, protect our critical infrastructure and ensure we continue to produce steel here in the UK.
Today’s announcement is the first step towards ensuring we can modernise and decarbonise steel-making in this country - reducing our reliance on foreign imports and ensuring we stay competitive on the global stage.
But the government should not stop there. We need to ensure British steel is used in British infrastructure projects to boost local economies up and down the country.
That’s how you protect steel workers’ jobs through the transition, and put UK steelmaking on a firm footing for the future.
Steel Industry bill passes through the Lords
The Steel Industry (Special Measures) has now passed through the House of Lords and is awaiting royal assent.
After receiving royal assent, it will become law at midnight
The main proposed amendment in the Lords came from shadow business minister Lord Hunt of Wirral, who said the bill could hand over too much power to ministers.
Lord Hunt said a so-called “sunset clause” needed to be introduced to time-limit powers. He proposed two amendments which would bring the powers to a close after a defined period.
The Tory Peer said:
In this House we have a responsibility to ensure that legislation is not only properly scrutinised, not only properly debated, but also does not give unlimited powers to the executive without the checks and balances which are essential, which are largely portrayed through the working depth of this House, in particular.
Lord Hunt said emergency Covid powers were subject to a time limiting, which provided a precedent. He said powers granted to the Government in the steel Bill should be no different.
He quoted a report by the constitution committee which said: “Wherever possible sunset clauses should be incorporated into emergency legislation, particular in relation to legislation that impacts upon civil liberties.
The peer added:
It is essential that power is available for the sake of the future of the Scunthorpe steelworks, yes, but should it be available in perpetuity? That is the key question which the chamber must now decide.
In the Lords, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, a business and trade minister, is currently replying to the various amendments proposed by other peers.
She asks that all amendments be withdrawn.
The House of Lords is sitting again after a break, and according to reports, there are five amendments that have been tabled and need to be debated.
More details soon …
Communities “pay the price” when foreign governments and private capital are “in charge” of steel and oil, a Labour MP has warned.
Brian Leishman described “stunning similarities” between job losses at the Grangemouth oil refinery and negotiations affecting the Scunthorpe steelworks.
Asked whether he agreed with business secretary Jonathan Reynolds that they are not “comparable”, Leishman told the PA news agency that he would “contest this”.
He added:
In so many different industrial examples that we’ve had over the last sort-of 40 years, when private capital and/or foreign governments are in charge of key pieces of vital infrastructure, then workers in communities and our national security pay the price. So, there’s stunning similarities really between what’s happening at Scunthorpe and Grangemouth.
The Alloa and Grangemouth MP claimed Ineos and the Chinese state-owned PetroChina company which run the Petroineos refinery “are dictating Scotland’s energy and fuel security, and that’s not right”.
Asked whether he would seek to table similar legislation to the steel industry (special measures) bill, Leishman replied:
I’m basically doing what the prime minister [Keir Starmer] said we should all do as Labour party MPs in government, and that is to put constituency and country above party.
My constituency and my country and all of Scotland rely on the Grangemouth oil refinery and it really should be saved.
Commenting on the steel industry (special measures) bill with regard to British Steel, Stephen Phipson, chief executive of trade body Make UK, said:
Steel is the most used material in a modern economy so this is welcome and decisive action by the government.
It shows a commitment to maintaining this vital strategic national asset, which will help safeguard many highly skilled jobs, and play a key role in maintaining our national security. However, the issue with regard to steel is a symptom of the significant problems with the UK’s approach to its industrial economy and government must now move as a matter of urgency to fix these for the long term.
The first step must be the introduction of a wide ranging, modern industrial strategy which has national resilience in wider manufacturing sectors at its core, as well as the development of and, investment in, advanced manufacturing. This must include as a priority acting on the underlying factors critical to industries such as steel, in particular our uneconomic industrial energy costs which have placed the UK at a significant competitive disadvantage for some time.
For the millions of people in the UK employed in industries where weekend working is the norm, the X feeds of MPs in Westminster may be a little hard to stomach.
For while doctors, nurses, hospitality workers and, yes, journalists regularly put in the hours while others are enjoying their weekends, they rarely feel the need to take a selfie on the commute to prove it.
But hardworking parliamentarians, recalled to the Palace of Westminster for a rare Saturday session to debate the future of British Steel, couldn’t resist.
Looking flushed and slightly windswept, the Reform MP Richard Tice filmed himself marching across Lambeth Bridge on his way to the Commons, criticising the Labour government’s slow reaction to the crisis and urged them to have some “mettle” and “completely” renationalise British Steel in the process.
“We urge the government to do the job properly and fully nationalise British Steel this weekend. Don’t do half a job,” Tice posted on X, adding: “This can be a great opportunity done well. Let’s go for it.”
Anna Turley, the Labour MP for Redcar and a government whip, posted a video from a sunny train platform saying she would have been on the terraces cheering on her local football team Redcar Athletic if she hadn’t been heading into work. “If I wasn’t going down for this important vote, I would have been at Green Lane to support the mighty Steelmen who could win the league today!”
Turley took the train down to the capital “for something that should have been done back in 2015 for the steelworkers and families of Redcar. So pleased to have a government that believes in steel and believes in our industrial future”.
Sources confirm that Jingye executives were blocked from Scunthorpe plant on Saturday
Earlier we reported on an article by the Times that said steelworkers at Scunthorpe had blocked a group of Chinese executives who were trying to access critical parts of the plant on Saturday morning (see 2.27pm BST).
Sources have now confirmed to the Guardian that this was the case. Workers feared Jingye executives might sabotage the works, according to a person briefed on events.
A union source confirmed that police were called this morning at about 8am after Jingye executives tried to enter the Scunthorpe plant. The executives left shortly after.
Updated
Starmer meets British Steel workers on visit to Scunthorpe
The prime minister met British Steel workers near Scunthorpe shortly after the steel industry (special measures) bill passed the House of Commons unopposed.
Keir Starmer told the steelworkers:
You are the people who have kept this going.
You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognise that.
And I felt it was really important today, having been in parliament this morning, to come straight up here to see you face to face to have that discussion with you.
Because this shouldn’t be a remove thing that’s happening down in Westminster, in parliament, it should be something that’s living and breathing. It’s your jobs, your lives, your communities, your families.
The PA news agency reports that the steelworkers thanked the prime minister for the government’s action, with one adding:
We’re not there yet, we’ve still got a lot of hard work to do.
Updated
Reform UK’s leader, Nigel Farage, said Labour had acted on British Steel because they were “terrified” of his party in its traditional northern heartlands, reports the PA news agency.
Speaking outside Westminster, he said his message to the government was:
Half a thank you for doing something. I was out with those Scunthorpe steelworkers on Tuesday. I bet the ‘Spoons’ tonight in Scunthorpe will be absolutely rammed.
I wish I could go and join them again because they were so anxious and they are proud working people. So there’s half a thank you for that but frankly you can’t work with Jingye, you have got to nationalise it and try and plan a future.
He added:
Saviours of the world! Suddenly we are now an industrial powerhouse! Well talk about leaving it a bit late. I was in Scunthorpe on Tuesday and it was pretty obvious when we came out. There were literally three working days left to save primary steel production in Britain.
They’ve done it on a Saturday because they wanted it to be dramatic and they wanted to say ‘Look we’re the Labour party, we’re on the same side as workers’ and they are terrified of what the Reform vote is doing to the north-west, the north-east, areas like that. So that’s why they’ve done it.
He added:
It’s just a sticking plaster. Frankly if Jingye, the Chinese owners, are bad faith actors, which I have believed them to be for five years, and today the business secretary said they are not acting in good faith, they should have just done the whole hog today, nationalised it and then tried to find a way of selling it on.
Updated
Labour peer Prem Sikka said the government was trying to avoid explicitly saying it would nationalise British Steel, but said it should be the long-term outcome, reports the PA news agency.
He said:
My lords, the minister said that the government seeks to take control of blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, without taking control of British Steel.
It’s really trying to avoid the words nationalisation and public ownership, but that is really where we are heading. British Steel’s most recent accounts show falling turnover, increasingly losses and negative net worth. It is bankrupt and the compensation should be very little, if any.
Steel is essential for civil and defence industries. In a world of trade wars, we need to be self sufficient. We need permanent public ownership of the steel industry.
He added:
One of the reasons for the current crisis is that privatisation of essential industries has failed.
The 1988 privatisation of steel by the Conservative government was completely divorced from any industrial strategy, need for jobs and self reliance.
House of Lords adjourned for an hour to allow peers to put forward bill amendments
The bill has received its second reading and the House of Lords has been adjourned for an hour to allow time for peers to put forward amendments.
Emergency legislation arrived in the House of Lords after clearing the Commons earlier on Saturday.
Updated
The Conservatives said it was “deeply regrettable” MPs were unable to vote on amendments to the steel industry (special measures) bill.
There was no time left for MPs to debate amendments tabled on Saturday, with the deputy speaker, Caroline Nokes, adding:
Amendments which are not debated are not subsequently selected for separate decision.
The shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Alex Burghart, on a point of order, said:
It is obviously deeply regrettable that the government wasn’t prepared for the eventualities that it has faced.
We know they weren’t because the bill wasn’t ready until 9.30am and an obvious omission from the bill is a sunset clause and many members here today have spoken in favour of a sunset clause and indeed ministers opposite have suggested they want this legislation to be time limited.
Consequently it’s deeply regrettable that it sounds as though the house will not have an opportunity to vote on a sunset clause.
The House of Lords will consider the bill on Saturday afternoon and any changes made to it by peers would then be sent to the House of Commons for MPs to consider.
Updated
While the steel industry (special measures) bill is being debated in parliament, a march to save British steel has taken place this afternoon in Scunthorpe. Here are some images via the newswires:
Updated
The former navy chief Alan West said the UK production of virgin steel was vital to national security, especially the military, and backed the government’s swift action, likening it to cold war plans to destroy Soviet submarines.
Speaking in the House of Lords, the Labour former security minister said:
In the cold war when we used to work on how we were going to kill Soviet submarines, and we would have been jolly good at it I hasten to add, I am glad we didn’t have a war but we would have been good at it, the slang word for it was ‘fastest with the mostest’.
In other words, you got a sniff of a submarine, you moved really quickly, and I think the government here have moved really quickly when they have seen something needs to be done, and then you put every effort, everything you had into that because you needed to kill it.
On that issue I would say there are things that need to be done and I am not sure that all of them are being done and I do have a concern about the cost of energy.
Updated
Iain Duncan Smith has said it was “right” for parliament to sit on a Saturday to preserve jobs, but warned the steel industry (special measures) bill “does give very vast powers” to the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds.
The former Conservative party leader told the Commons:
I therefore do urge [Jonathan Reynolds] to have another look at the sunset clause.
I raised this earlier because it’s not saying ‘we don’t trust you’. It’s saying sometimes government gets taken down sidetracks, and before you know what’s happened, the powers are beginning to be used for the wrong purpose.
Duncan Smith later said:
Far too many countries like China have abused the rules of the free market, have subsidised their industries ridiculously, and have used slave labour to produce products. When that happens, the free market is dead.
He added:
China now itself is suffering from an overproduction of steel.
Their own housing industry has gone static on them, and they were one of the biggest users of the steel produced by China. Where is that steel going to go?
And it’s no surprise, by the way, that a Chinese company Jingye is involved in this, because by pushing forward to shut down the blast furnaces in the UK, they know that we will have to buy slab steel from China. This is not a coincidence. This is all part of the plan.
Updated
Steel industry bill clears the Commons
The steel industry (special measures) bill has cleared its first hurdle after
MPs approved it at all stages. It will now proceed to the House of Lords for debate and passage.
Updated
Westminster “is only interested in Westminster”, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has alleged as he asked why the steel industry (special measures) bill only applies in England.
Referring to a Scottish oil refinery, Flynn told the Commons:
Whilst the government mobilises every effort to save British Steel, it allows Grangemouth to fall on the backburner.
He asked:
Why is this not being extended to Scotland? Why is Grangemouth not being included? Why is the smelter up at Lochaber not being included? Why the DL steelworks not being included? The answer why they are not being included is because Westminster is only interested in Westminster.
It is not interested in Scotland. And I will not be shouted down by the members opposite, because they need to hear the truth.
Liberal Democrat Wales spokesperson David Chadwick said:
When Welsh steel communities were crying out for support, when Tata Steel announced over 2,800 job losses in Port Talbot last year, the largest steelworks in the country, a key strategic asset, the manufacturing heart of south Wales, there was no recall of parliament, no Saturday sitting, no emergency legislation, and no rapid mobilisation of government to save the day, this despite every warning sign being there.
Chadwick said his grandfather worked in the blast furnaces at Port Talbot, adding:
It gave him the opportunity to set up his own business, in his case, a waste management company, and that’s what’s really at risk now, and that’s what’s really withering away in south Wales.
It’s not just the jobs on the steelworks floor, but that entire network of small businesses, tradespeople and suppliers that rely on the steel industry’s presence in our communities.
Opposition parties have tabled eight amendments to the government’s steel industry (special measures) bill.
They include three from the SNP and Plaid Cymru extending the bill’s scope to other parts of the UK beyond England, two from the Conservatives and one from the Liberal Democrats imposing time limits for using the powers in the bill, and one from the UK calling for the immediate nationalisation of affected steelworks.
Updated
Minister refuses to comment on report Chinese owners blocked from entering plant
Conservative MP Graham Stuart asked in the Commons:
It is reported that Jingye management have been turned away by workers, and indeed the Humberside police, so can the minister tell the house whether or not that is the policy of the government – to bar Jingye management from going on to the premises?
Sarah Jones, business minister, replied:
I am not going to comment from the dispatch box on reports that have been made during this debate.
Stuart could be referring to a report by the Times today that said steelworkers at Scunthorpe had blocked a group of Chinese executives who were trying to access critical parts of the plant on Saturday morning.
Citing company insiders, the Times reported that representatives from Jingye came to the site at about 8am, but were met with a “heroic” effort by workers to block their path to offices. It added that Humberside police are understood to have been called to the scene with the Chinese delegation forced to leave.
China buying and then closing British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant may be in Beijing’s interest “in a competitive world”, a Labour former defence secretary has suggested.
Backing the government’s intervention to safeguard UK steel production, Lord Reid of Cardowan hit out at Tory criticism and argued it was the previous Conservative government that had “sold this industry to the Chinese”.
He said:
We are constantly told not least by the party opposite that there is no firewall between the Chinese government and Chinese industry.
Did it never occur to anyone in the last government that it maybe, in a competitive world, in the interest of the Chinese government to purchase and then close down the British steel industry?
And if that wasn’t considered then there was a gross omission of responsibility, I am afraid, by the previous government.”
Updated
UK Steel - steel industry bill right move to keep blast furnaces alight at Scunthorpe
In a statement, UK Steel director general, Gareth Stace, said:
UK Steel welcomes the steel industry (special measures) bill, which will allow the British Steel site at Scunthorpe to maintain operations while government negotiations with the company continue.
In particular, we appreciate the decisive action of the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, who has recognised the urgency of protecting our industry with this unprecedented recall of parliament.
A blast furnace is a dynamic piece of machinery. If the fires go out, it is nigh on impossible for it to be brought back to life – so a solution to keep them running is time-critical. It is, therefore, vital that the blast furnaces remain operational during negotiations, providing some security and breathing space in the short term, and this legislation will ensure this can happen.
We encourage the government and British Steel to work at pace on a long-term solution for the Scunthorpe site, which is critical in supporting thousands of jobs, national security of supply, the wider UK economy and many more people and communities in the supply chain.”
Updated
We have a statement from Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary of Community Union, the steelworkers union.
He said:
Community Union welcomes and wholeheartedly backs the Labour government’s decisive action to take control of British Steel.
The government has sought to negotiate constructively and even offered to buy raw materials to stop the blast furnaces closing, but Jingye have shut down every avenue to keep the furnaces running and avoid imminent job losses.
Moreover, Jingye has not consulted in good faith with the unions, and they now need to get out of the road to give space to all those who want to see British Steel succeed.
Today’s intervention by the UK Labour government is a first step towards securing a sustainable future for British Steel and steel communities like Scunthorpe.
We will continue to work with the government to deliver this future and build a thriving UK steel industry which supports thousands of good jobs and the economic security of our country.”
Updated
Everyone should worry about the cost to the taxpayer of the emergency legislation being debated in parliament, shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins warned.
Speaking outside parliament, she said legislation does not contain the detail needed to “safeguard jobs and to protect the steel industry”.
Atkins said:
I think we should all worry about the cost on the taxpayer and this is why we have been asking how much is this going to cost, and at the moment we don’t have an answer from the government.
How on earth can they put a piece of legislation of this importance before parliament rushing it through in less than there hours in order to safeguard jobs and livelihood?
How can they do that without telling us, the taxpayer, what it will cost, what our future liabilities will be, what are the prospects of the private sector becoming involved again given how badly the Government has handled the economy since the disastrous budget at the end of last year.”
She added:
They have not provided us with the detail we need in order to ensure that their plans will hold water and will actually do what we all want the legislation to do, which is to safeguard jobs and to protect the steel industry.”
Updated
The government must urgently review its net zero policies to ensure “they support not strangle British industry”, the Tories have warned.
Shadow business minister David Hunt said:
I believe it is essential that we consider the effect and the impact of green targets which have placed immense strain on our industries.
The policies driving us towards net zero by 2050 have hit our industries hard, especially energy intensive sectors like steel. Energy costs in the UK are now the highest in Europe and four times that in the United States. And the current trajectory of green regulation is making it harder not easier for our industries to compete internationally.
We just need to ensure that our environmental goals do not come at the cost of our industrial base. The government must urgently review its net zero policies to ensure that they support not strangle British industry.
If we don’t strike the right balance we will continue to see industries like steel driven offshore taking not only jobs and investment with them but also the very emission targets we champion we cannot allow this to happen.”
Lord Hunt also sought assurance that powers contained in legislation to prevent the closure of blast furnaces in Scunthorpe would not be abused. He said:
Where is the sunset clause in this bill? How can we be assured that these extraordinary powers will not be abused or extended indefinitely? The government has to make clear then precise time-frame for these powers and more importantly they must demonstrate how they intend to ensure that public and parliament are not left in the dark once this emergency has passed.”
Updated
Greenpeace UK’s director of policy, Doug Parr, discussing the emergency legislation being debated in parliament, said:
Parliament has acted in the nick of time to save British Steel and the thousands of jobs it supports.
But much depends on what the government chooses to do with these powers. Ensuring the steel industry has a future will depend on converting the Scunthorpe plant to produce virgin green steel made with hydrogen technology. This will ensure the UK remains a contender in the global race to produce clean steel.
It is also critical that lessons are learned from Port Talbot and that workers have a voice in future decisions about their jobs.
The clean energy transition is an opportunity to lower bills, reduce pollution and provide decent jobs long into the future. Today’s vote is an important milestone on that road.”
Updated
Conservative former minister David Davis said MPs were debating a “nationalisation in all but name” bill, adding:
I would have voted for nationalisation, I will vote for this bill for a simple reason, this buys us time.
It’s a reprieve not a rescue, I think that’s what people have to understand.”
Updated
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice urged the government to “show your cojones” and nationalise British Steel.
He said his party would support the steel industry (special measures) bill, telling the Commons:
I think there’s an opportunity, secretary of state, to go further, to be bold, be courageous, show your cojones, show some mettle Mr secretary of state, this weekend you have the opportunity to go for it, to reduce and remove the uncertainty of 3,000-plus families in Scunthorpe.
Let’s go for it, let’s nationalise British Steel this weekend and make British steel great again.”
Updated
Martin Vickers, Conservative MP for Brigg and Immingham, who has campaigned to save the British Steel plant at Scunthorpe accused the government of being slow to act on the issue.
He said he had first raised the issue in September last year, with another urgent question in March:
Now thankfully we’ve had a six-month reprieve from those threats which were coming forward in October, but I have to say the government have been a little dilatory on this.
I know that negotiations have been taking place on this, and I appreciate that ministers cannot give away their negotiating position, but having made that point as long ago as September surely the government were beginning to realise that the negotiations with Jingye were going nowhere.”
He said he supported the bill, but also the Conservative amendment that would introduce a “sunset clause” on its powers.
He said:
I can assure them that I give them my full support today and will continue to do so when they act in the best interests of my constituents.”
Updated
Intervening on his Labour colleague Melanie Onn, Luke Akehurst MP for North Durham said:
Will she agree with me that one of the major ways in which we could secure markets for British Steel is by the British-first strategy that the Ministry of Defence has stated for the building of future warships?”
Onn replied:
I agree with [him], it is imperative that we tie all of the initiatives that this government is bringing forward, whether that is in defence, or in other critical areas of industry to make sure that we can secure the future of steel for the long term.”
Updated
Labour MP Melanie Onn said the government has “grasped the nettle after the can has been kicked down the road for far too long” but warned the measures must not be a temporary solution.
The MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes said:
British Steel at Scunthorpe is not just of interest to that town, but emanates across northern Lincolnshire to my constituents … whether directly or indirectly, the employment and training opportunities that come from that single site are so important to our local economy, and the product of course is nationally important.”
She continued:
The measures today are not without risk, and unless we set a course for steel in the UK that closely aligns with our industrial strategy, this will only be another sticking plaster, for a site that has already been put through the wringer too many times over the years.
Onn called for a carbon tariff to be introduced, as is already in place in the European Union with its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which would stop cheaper steel being dumped in the UK.
She said:
I wonder if now is the time for the government to perhaps look again at CBAM. The EU has already brought in the adjustment mechanism to protect against international steel dumping.
So, doing all we can whether it is keeping down energy costs, as I know the minister has sought to do, investment through the national wealth fund, or indeed bringing in the CBAM, this is our chance to have a genuine long-term solution for the preservation of British Steel.”
Updated
Edward Leigh has called on the government to “get real” over the energy costs paid to run steelworks in Scunthorpe.
The Conservative MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire asked:
Why are we loading the most expensive energy costs on our own steel production?”
He later added:
We have to stop these green energy costs. We have to be realistic.”
Leigh added he supported the bill and that he wanted a sunset clause to business secretary Jonathan Reynolds’ powers, and told the Commons:
We have to get real about China, too.
Was it not obvious for weeks, indeed for months, that this company, this so-called private company – there is no such thing as a private company in China, they’re under the cosh of the government under an autocratic regime – what do they care about the steelworkers in Scunthorpe?”
Labour MP Diane Abbott had earlier said “some of us hope that moving on to nationalisation will not be ruled out”.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said:
British Steel supplies Transport for London (TfL) with the power rail London uses on the transport network, which is not currently manufactured anywhere else in the country.
For railways like the underground, power rail from British Steel is essential to the everyday operation of the service, which supports up to four million customer journeys each day.
The closure of British Steel would have a very serious adverse effect on TfL services, as it would have a serious effect on projects up and down this country.”
UK-made steel is needed “to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad”, a business minister has told parliament.
Margaret Jones made her comments as the House of Lords and House of Commons were recalled from the Easter recess for an extremely rare Saturday sitting to debate legislation aimed at blocking the British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, from closing blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant.
Lady Jones told peers:
This government will never hesitate to take action to protect this nation’s assets.
We will not abandon the hard working steelmaking communities that have given so much to both our economy and our country.
Where vital industries are on the verge of collapse or where communities face devastation we will always act in the national interest.”
She added:
We do not accept the argument that steelmaking has no future in the UK.”
Pointing out British steel was needed for major developments and critical infrastructure projects, including rail and renewable schemes, she said:
We need it to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad.”
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper has said some Conservative MPs’ calls for steel nationalisation “shows just how through the looking-glass we really are”.
She told the Commons that recalling parliament “is absolutely the right thing to do”, adding:
It is quite astounding that even after British Steel was sold for £1, even after British Steel entered insolvency, even after the government’s insolvency service temporarily ran the firm, the Conservatives pressed ahead to erect more trade barriers through their botched Brexit deal, they scrapped the industrial strategy council, and allowed the sale of the steel plant to a Chinese firm, which now, according to ministers, is refusing to negotiate in good faith to at least keep the plant going.”
Cooper later added:
Under the terms of this bill, the secretary of state [Jonathan Reynolds] is giving himself huge and unconstrained powers, which could set a very dangerous precedent.
I urge the secretary of state in the strongest possible terms to make a simple commitment today that the powers that he is giving himself will be repealed as soon as possible, within six months at the latest, and if they are still required after that, whether he will come back to this house to ask for another vote if he wants to extend them.”
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, intervened and said “the limitation – wide as they are – is the right measure”, adding: “I’ll seek to do exactly that.”
Cooper later said:
The fact that it is some Conservative MPs calling for nationalisation really shows just how through the looking-glass we really are.”
Labour MP Liam Byrne, who chairs the business and trade committee, said the bill was about “saving British Steel” as he commended the government for bringing it forward.
He told the Commons:
At the heart of this debate is actually a very simple question – can we entrust a critical national asset to a company that we do not trust? I say no, we cannot, we must not and we dare not.
We are faced with a very simple challenge – in British Steel’s owners we have a company in possession of an asset that we need yet it is a partner that we do not trust. In a world where threats to our economic security multiply each day, we cannot allow that risk to fester at the heart of our industrial core.”
Updated
Shadow business secretary says MPs being asked to sign off 'blank cheque' for British Steel intervention
Shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, said the government was asking MPs to sign off a “blank cheque” for its British Steel intervention, reports the PA news agency.
He told the Commons:
From midnight the chancellor will be standing behind the payroll, settling every bill with every supplier even if they are in arrears. If these decisions no longer sit with the plant’s owner, where does the buck stop? The Old Admiralty Building? The Treasury? No 10?
And how can other steel providers have any confidence in the impartiality of the government’s steel strategy if the umpire is now on the pitch? What assessment has the government made of the impact of this bill on public finances? There is no impact assessment.
The government has been talking to British Steel for nine months, they put at least £500m of taxpayers’ money on the table, surely by now [Jonathan Reynolds] and his officials have a comprehensive understanding of the costs of the actions he is asking us to vote on.
What disrespect to this house for the government to come along today, to recall parliament after nine months in which they failed to land a deal and ask us for a blank cheque. This is no way to run a corner shop, let alone the country.”
In his concluding remarks, Griffith said:
It’s a government by sulky teenager – not sharing their plans, not answering the question and when it goes wrong it’s everyone’s fault but theirs.”
Updated
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith accused the government of pursuing a “botched nationalisation plan” and said the opposition would seek to amend the bill to put an expiry date on the powers given to ministers.
He told the Commons:
This is a failure on the government’s watch, let’s be crystal clear what today means: we are entering a tunnel with only one exit. This is a botched nationalisation plan revealing the government has no plan.
In government we acted to secure Port Talbot and were negotiating a plan, including British Steel’s preferred option of an electric arc furnace in Teesside. That would have limited job losses and kept Scunthorpe running in transition.”
Griffith claimed Scunthorpe is the “victim of a dishonesty that pretends it is better for the environment to ship coke halfway around the planet than from down the road”, adding:
And an energy policy that has driven costs higher than any competing nation.
No one is more responsible for this than the energy secretary [Ed Miliband] and the prime minister who appointed him.”
Pressed by Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse for details of the deal negotiated by the Tories, Griffith replied:
I think [Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch] has been extremely clear that the deal was being negotiated and the point about a deal being negotiated is that deal would be concluded after the election.”
Most of the UK’s foundation industries were in “substantial difficulty” when Labour entered office, Jonathan Reynolds said.
Reynolds told MPs crude steel production had halved since 2010 and said the two remaining blast furnaces at Scunthorpe dated from the 1930s and 1950s. He added that the steel industry is a smaller proportion of the UK’s overall economy than in other comparable major nations.
He said:
We’ve got to be looking to the future as well, to new technology, to new investments and that is crucially why having the dedicated resources this government has put in to steel is why we’ve got the chance to look with optimism to the future.”
Finishing his opening speech, he said:
Whether it is at Port Talbot, whether it is via our upcoming steel strategy, whether it’s via our work to improve public procurement, or in the introduction of our industrial strategy to tackle the most thorny issues of industrial competitiveness, where others have shied away this government has stepped up.
Steel is fundamental to Britain’s industrial strength, to our security, and to our identify as a primary global power. Today’s legislation will help ensure that we can retain that steelmaking capability here in the UK, both now and for years to come.
For British workers’ security, for British industry’s future, and without hesitation in our national interest, and for the workers of British Steel and for their families, this action today is essential.”
Lib Dems criticise UK government for not intervening to protect Port Talbot
The Liberal Democrats have criticised the UK government for not intervening to protect the Port Talbot steelworks, reports the PA news agency.
David Chadwick, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson, said:
Where was this scale of action when thousands of job losses were announced at Port Talbot just a few months ago?
While action to save jobs in Scunthorpe is welcome, why has this Labour government decided communities in England are worth fighting for and those in Wales are not?
Workers right across south Wales will be asking themselves how this unjust situation was ever allowed to occur.”
Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds MS added:
It is outrageous that Labour was willing to see over 2,000 jobs in Port Talbot and the wider supply chain go forever, but the UK Government acted to save them elsewhere in the country.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats constantly called for action to protect jobs at Port Talbot over very many years.
While it was the Conservatives that plunged the south Wales proud steel industry into crisis through years of neglect, it will be Labour’s decision to act to protect English steel but not Welsh steel that will be remembered by communities for decades to come.”
Jonathan Reynolds said Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, was wrong to say she had negotiated a modernisation plan with British Steel for electric arc furnaces at Teesside and Scunthorpe.
Badenoch posted on X on Friday saying as business secretary in the last Conservative government she had negotiated the proposal but it was “bungled” by Labour.
The business secretary said:
I wish to make unequivocally clear to the house, the government inherited no such deal. We could not renege on that deal because it did not exist. On day one, I was told that there had been a lack of progress on this matter to date.”
Reynolds asked how much Badenoch had agreed to give Jingye, and what the conditions were. He said the proposals she mentioned were more expensive.
Intervening to respond, Badenoch said:
Labour cannot negotiate. We were negotiating a modernisation deal that would have had limited job losses, just like we had in Port Talbot. They inherited a functioning commercial deal in Port Talbot, the same was going to happen with British Steel had we not had a snap election. What he is doing now is the union-pushed deal.
They brought that deal to me, I said no, he said yes.”
Continuing the exchange with Badenoch, Reynolds replied:
This is genuinely revelatory.
I say again, if Jingye was for £1.2bn to build at lesser cost in one place, what was the sum of money agreed by the leader of the opposition when she was business secretary to build in two places?
It certainly wasn’t in the accounts of the chancellor.”
Badenoch intervened again:
We had not finished the negotiation so there was no amount, but it would have succeeded better than the terrible plan he’s got now.”
Updated
Conservative party could now view selling British Steel to Jingye 'as a mistake', says Reynolds
The government does not believe steel production is a declining industry in the UK, Jonathan Reynolds said.
The business secretary gave examples of the 400,000 tonnes of new steel needed for Heathrow airport’s expansion, and the planned Universal Studios theme park in Bedford that will use UK-made steel where possible.
Reynolds said:
When it comes to steel, we will never accept the argument that steel making is a sunset industry. Steel is vital to every bit of the modern economy, domestic demand for steel is only set to go up, not down.”
He said the Conservative party could regret selling British Steel to Jingye.
“The legislation we’re setting out today will also help end the uncertainty that has been hanging over British Steel’s Scunthorpe site for too long,” he said.
He added:
This issue should have been resolved years ago. I also believe that they now view it as a mistake to have given this essential national asset to this company.”
Updated
Plaid Cymru will seek to amend the steel industry (special measures) bill to extend the business secretary’s powers into Wales, where blast furnaces have closed down in Port Talbot.
Plaid’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, told the Commons:
When the blast furnaces in Port Talbot closed down in September last year, his government could have taken exactly the same legislative action as they are choosing to do today.
We will be endeavouring to amend this bill to include England and Wales, because there is still the opportunity for his government to make a real difference to the community of Port Talbot and the 2,800 jobs they lost there.”
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, replied:
The blast furnaces have already closed at Port Talbot. They are not available to be saved. That situation has moved on.”
Updated
The situation at Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland “is not a comparable situation” to the one at British Steel in Scunthorpe, business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has told MPs.
Reynolds told the Commons:
I understand that some have asked about precedent or referenced other troubled industrial situations.
And to be clear again, this is an exceptional situation, a unique situation, and the question for all members is whether we as a country want to continue to possess a steel industry, do we want to make the construction steel and rail we need here in the UK, or do we want to be dependent on overseas imports?”
SNP Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, told MPs:
Many minds right now will be very much focused on the situation in Grangemouth, where we know that hundreds of jobs are going to be lost directly, thousands of jobs in the supply chain.
Now, were I, or perhaps even the local member for Alloa and Grangemouth [Labour MP Brian Leishman], to bring forward a similar bill in respect of Scotland’s only oil refinery, to save it, to give him [Reynolds] the executive power to do as he pleases, as he is doing with British Steel, would the Labour party back it in the same way as it is backing this bill today?”
Reynolds replied that “this Labour government has pledged £200m to secure its long-term future”.
He added that “it is not a comparable situation and the behaviour of the company is not comparable to the situation in this case”.
Updated
Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith has asked business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, about “a reasonable limit” on government interventions at steelworks under the steel industry (special measures) bill.
The Tory MP told the Commons:
I don’t see a sunset clause in here.”
He said such a measure could bring “the government back here to debate whether they should extend that process and puts therefore a reasonable limit on government activity without debate”.
Reynolds said in his reply:
I make clear I don’t want these powers a minute more than is necessary.
I cannot say at the minute when we drafted this bill the time frame that they were required for, but I will endeavour and commit at the despatch box to keep the house updated.”
He later added:
Just to be absolutely specific, where we make an order in relation to control of a steel undertaking, once that control has been established and is no longer required, we can revoke those regulations as well.”
Updated
Issues at British Steel 'are more than the imposition' of US tariffs, says Reynolds
Issues at British Steel “are more than the imposition” of US tariffs, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said, after Ed Davey said any MP who campaigned for Donald Trump’s victory “should apologise” to steelworkers.
The Liberal Democrat leader intervened in Reynolds’s speech and asked:
Does he agree with me, given the huge damage that president [Donald] Trump’s tariffs have done to the British Steel industry, accelerating this crisis, that any member of this house who actually campaigned for President Trump’s election and cheered him on has behaved shamefully unpatriotically and should apologise to British Steel workers?”
Reynolds replied:
I’m extremely grateful to [Ed Davey] and the presence of his party here today.
He will not draw me on the other principal issue we’ve been dealing with at the Department for Business and Trade over the last few days.
But to be clear, the issues around British Steel are more than the imposition of tariffs.
Tariffs are not welcome. I don’t think there’s a justification for those tariffs to be in place, and I do believe it is in our interests, of course, but also the US’s interests to agree a position with us that removes those tariffs.”
Updated
Reform's Tice urges government to 'seize opportunity' to nationalise British Steel
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said transfer of ownership to the state “remains on the table” and may well be the “likely option” for British Steel, although noted the government could not fund the long-term transformation of the company.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice told the Commons:
Given the secretary of state has inferred that actually the owners Jingye are not acting and have not acted in good faith, surely the right thing to do is to seize this great opportunity now this weekend and nationalise British Steel?”
Reynolds replied:
I want to be clear that a transfer of ownership to the state remains on the table and it may well, at this stage, given the behaviour of the company be the likely option.
But also our aspirations for British Steel remain a co-investment agreement with a private sector partner to secure that long-term transformation. The action I seek to take today is not a magic wand or a panacea, the state cannot fund the long-term transformation of British Steel itself nor would it want to do so.
But a failure to act today would prevent any more desirable outcome from even being considered and that is again why we must act today.”
Updated
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds described the legislation as a “proportionate and necessary step”, telling MPs:
It allows us to take control of British Steel’s blast furnaces, maintaining steel production and by extension protecting the company’s 3,500-strong workforce.
The bill does not transfer ownership to the government. We’ll have to deal with this matter at a later date. I took the decision that given the exceptional nature of a recall, it would be better to limit the powers in this bill, which are still significant, rather than introduce more complex matters of property rights and public ownership at this time.”
Conservative former minister Jeremy Wright warned the government risked “creating some considerable legal complexity” in terms of the operation of steel companies.
Reynolds, in his reply, said:
I want this to be a temporary position, I do not want these powers any minute longer than is necessary but I do need these powers to rectify and save this situation.”
Updated
Jonathan Reynolds said even if he agreed to Jingye’s terms and conditions for an agreement on support for the Scunthorpe site he “could not guarantee that further requests for money would not then be made”.
The PA news agency reports the business secretary as telling the Commons:
In this situation, with the clock being run down, doing nothing was not an option. We could not, will not and never will stand idly by while heat seeps from the UK’s remaining blast furnaces without any planning, any due process or any respect for the consequences and that is why I needed colleagues here today.”
Conservative former minister David Davis, intervening, said:
It’s beginning to sound from what he has described that Jingye is trying to manoeuvre the government actually into a recompensed nationalisation.
Will he make plain that in the event they try and manoeuvre us into a nationalisation we’ll pay not more than a penny for it?”
Reynolds replied:
To be clear, we would always in a situation where the state transfers a change of ownership to it pay the fair market value for those assets. In this case the market value is effectively zero so I take his point entirely.
I would say the intention of Jingye has not been to engineer that situation. Their intention has been to keep the downstream mills, which colleagues will know are fundamental to our construction steel industry, and supply them from China rather than from Scunthorpe.”
Jonathan Reynolds said Jingye wanted the government to give them “hundreds of millions of pounds” which could have been transferred to China along with British Steel assets.
The business secretary said:
The British government offered to purchase raw materials in a way that would have ensured no losses whatsoever for Jingye in maintaining the blast furnaces for a period of time.
A counter offer was instead made by Jingye to transfer hundreds of millions of pounds to them, without any conditions to stop that money and potentially other assets being immediately transferred to China.
They also refused a condition to keep the blast furnaces maintained and in good working order.”
Business secretary says Jingye wanted 'excessive amount' from the government
Jonathan Reynolds said the government had been negotiating with Jingye in good faith, but said the Chinese company wanted an “excessive amount” from the government.
The PA news agency reports that the business secretary said:
As honourable members will know, since taking office this government has been negotiating in good faith with British Steel’s owners Jingye.
We have worked tirelessly to find a way forward, making a generous offer of support to British Steel that included sensible, common sense conditions to protect the workforce, to protect taxpayers’ money and create a commercially viable company for the future.
Despite our offer to Jingye being substantial, they wanted much more. Frankly, an excessive amount. We did however remain committed to negotiation.
But over the last few days it became clear that the intention of Jingye was to refuse to purchase sufficient raw material to keep the blast furnaces running, in fact, their intention was to cancel and refuse to pay for existing orders.
The company would therefore have irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steel making at British Steel.”
Earlier Reynolds opened the second reading of the steel industry (special measures) bill, by saying:
We meet under exceptional circumstances, to take exceptional action, in what are exceptional times.
Our request to recall parliament was not one we have made lightly, and I am grateful, genuinely grateful to honourable members on all sides of this house for their cooperation and for being here today as we seek to pass emergency legislation that is unequivocally in our national interest.”
Updated
Shadow Cabinet Office minister, Alex Burghart, has said the government could receive “far-reaching powers not seen in legislation really in the past 40 years”.
Speaking as acting shadow Commons leader, Burghart told MPs:
I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot about urgency today, moving at pace and the rest of it.
But the truth is that the government has made a total pig’s breakfast of this whole arrangement.
The fact of the matter is, anyone who has been paying any attention to this story over the past few months has known this was coming down the track.”
After noise from Labour benches, speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said:
We’ve come back, it’s Saturday. It doesn’t mean it’s crackerjack day. We’re going to listen.”
Burghart later continued:
The fact of the matter is, the government as ever when negotiating makes bad deals for Britain, and it is making a bad deal.”
He added that “far reaching powers are being given to the government, far reaching powers not seen in legislation really in the past 40 years”.
Updated
Business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, tells the Commons that the decision to recall parliament “wasn’t taken lightly”. He says MPs are meeting under “exceptional circumstances, to take exceptional action, in what are exceptional times”.
Updated
Commons leader, Lucy Powell, has said Saturday’s recall of parliament is aimed at “saving thousands of jobs and securing our domestic production of virgin steel”.
She thanked the speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, for allowing the recall and added:
We meet in these special circumstances because the government needs to act decisively, at pace and with urgency to ensure that the steelworks, blast furnaces of British Steel are maintained and kept going, saving thousands of jobs and securing our domestic production of virgin steel.”
Updated
Government would pay Jingye nothing in the event of nationalisation, business secretary suggests
Conservative MP David Davis says the current owners are trying to force the government into nationalisation.
He asks if that happens: “will the business secretary refuse to pay more than a penny?”
Jonathan Reynolds confirms the government would not pay more than the market value, which is zero.
Updated
Lucy Powell, leader of the house, says the Commons needs to act “decisively” and “at pace” to ensure furnaces are kept going.
Alex Burghart, acting shadow leader of the house, says the government had “made a total pig’s breakfast” of the situation with British Steel. This gets a big reaction and the speaker has to settle the Commons.
MPs begin debate in House of Commons
MPs have begun debating the government’s steel industry (special measures) bill, kicking off the first recalled session of parliament on a Saturday since 1982.
Lucy Powell, leader of the house, has opened the debate by thanking all involved in facilitating a recall of parliament and outlining the schedule.
Updated
MPs are due to sit in the House of Commons now to debate the steel industry (special measures) bill. Here is a photograph of the prime minister, Keir Starmer, leaving No 10 this morning:
There is a live stream from the Commons at the top of this blog. You may have to refresh the page to view it.
Updated
Richard Tice, deputy leader of the Reform party has said he will be joining the government debate over British Steel.
In a post on X, the Boston and Skegness MP wrote:
We urge the government to do the job properly and fully nationalise British Steel this weekend. Don’t do half a job.
This can be a great opportunity done well. Let’s go for it.”
In a further video he said:
We will be urging the government to show some courage, have some mettle and do the job properly.”
If you want to read the 10-page steel industry (special measures) bill, you can access it here (nb: opens as pdf).
Government publishes steel industry bill to be debated
The government has published its steel industry (special measures) bill before Saturday’s sitting of parliament.
The 10-page bill allows the government to instruct steel companies to keep assets running, and to take over those assets if they fail to comply with those instructions.
The PA news agency reports that it also provides for a compensation scheme for costs incurred by a company following the government’s instructions, and criminal sanctions for executives who disregard them.
Updated
Redcar MP Anna Turley is travelling down to Westminster from North Yorkshire to debate the bill on British Steel, reports the PA news agency.
In a post on X, Turley wrote:
On the train down to vote for something that should have been done back in 2015 for the steelworkers and families of Redcar.
So pleased to have a government that believes in steel and believes in our industrial future.”
Turley MP also posted a video message saying primary steel making in Scunthorpe is “critical to the UK’s national security and our economic resilience.”
If you are just joining us now, here’s what to expect today:
MPs will vote on whether to grant the government control of British Steel as emergency legislation paving the way for nationalisation comes before parliament.
The House of Commons will sit from 11am
The House of Lords will sit from 12pm
British Steel makes the vast majority of UK rail track and the government has been seeking a deal to keep the plant open.
The industry will be hit by a 25% tariff on steel exports to the US imposed by Donald Trump but the government has insisted British Steel’s problems are not related to this.
Talks with Jingye’s chair, Li Ganpo, had dragged on for three days after the government offered to buy raw materials to keep the plant running for the next few weeks while trying to find a longer-term solution.
Scunthorpe is the last remaining steelworks capable of making steel from iron ore and so is seen by some people as strategically important for the UK. However, Jingye last month said it planned to close the plant’s two blast furnaces, putting 2,700 jobs at risk. It has since refused to pay for new raw materials, with coal and iron ore deliveries to Immingham port not yet paid for.
The government had offered £500m in financial support to switch the blast furnaces to cleaner electric arc furnaces, but Jingye had requested much more.
Talks this week are thought to have stalled when Jingye balked at the conditions attached to the offer to pay for new raw materials. The delays in reaching an agreement had caused increasing alarm among workers, who feared at least one blast furnace might be forced to close as soon as next week, leading to job losses.
Scunthorpe’s blast furnaces would have closed within days if the government had not recalled parliament to pass emergency legislation, the industry minister has said.
Sarah Jones told GB News:
Without the raw materials, it’s only a matter of time before the blast furnace is inoperable.”
Asked whether this would have happened within days, she said: “Yes.”
It’s been a busy morning for Sarah Jones, who is now on BBC Breakfast.
Asked whether the government had received any private offers for the company’s Scunthorpe plant, Sarah Jones said:
There is not at the moment, to answer your question, a private company that is there willing to invest at this point.
Asked how the situation in Scunthorpe is different from the steel works in Port Talbot, Jones said there was a private company willing to invest in the latter.
When we came into government, there was a deal on the table with Tata Steel in Port Talbot.
We negotiated in 10 weeks a much better deal, but there was a private company willing to invest, who are now investing.
We have maintained 5,000 jobs on the site and there will be a future for that site with an electric arc furnace. There is no such deal on the table at the moment (for Scunthorpe), that’s what is different.
The other difference is that these are the last blast furnaces making primary steel that we have in this country, and also what is different of course is that the world is changing.
As we have seen with the prime minister’s support for our defence industry in recent times, we need to ensure as a country we have sovereign capability to make steel, and that is what we are securing today.
Taking control of British Steel would come at no extra cost to the taxpayer, minister claims
The industry minister has said there would be “no extra costs” for the taxpayer as a result of taking control of British Steel’s Scunthorpe site, beyond the £2.5 billion already budgeted for supporting the industry.
Sarah Jones said:
We are hoping that the company will co-operate with what we are asking them to do, we hope that we will give them a notice and they will continue.
If they do not, we will step in. Now the company will be liable for any costs that we incur, and we will seek to get that money back.
But let me be really clear on the finances. We have a fund which we put into our manifesto because we have been committed to steel for the duration.
She added:
We have the £2.5 billion fund for steel which we had in our manifesto, that we will use if necessary, so there will be no extra costs to the Exchequer that we don’t already have in our plans.
MPs must support bill or accept end of primary steel making in UK, says minister
We’ve got more from industry minister Sarah Jones, who has said MPs face a choice between passing the government’s steel bill and seeing the end of primary steel making in the UK.
She told Sky News:
If blast furnaces are closed in an unplanned way, they can never be reopened, the steel just solidifies in those furnaces and nothing can be done.
So the choice that is facing MPs today is do we want to take back control, to give the business secretary the power to act as a company director and to instruct the company to ensure we get the raw materials and we keep the blast furnaces operating, or do we want to see the end of primary steel making in this country and the loss of jobs?
That is the choice that is on the table today.
Updated
British Steel owner Jingye was not negotiating “in good faith” about saving the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, the industry minister has said.
Sarah Jones told Sky News:
We have been negotiating with the owners of British Steel to try and secure a way forward. We made a very generous offer to them, which has been rejected.
We have been acting throughout this period in good faith, but we believe that in recent times the company have not been acting in good faith.
This problem has now become existential because the company have refused to bring in the raw materials that we need to keep the blast furnaces operating.
Analysis: British Steel facing a crisis within a crisis
Blast furnaces have been making steel in Britain for 300 years, ever since they helped start the Industrial Revolution. This weekend, parliament will sit for the first Saturday in decades as it tries to keep the last two furnaces running for a bit longer.
Keir Starmer has recalled MPs to discuss emergency powers to direct steel companies, including British Steel’s Scunthorpe steelworks, to “preserve capability and ensure public safety”. The move would be short of nationalisation, but it would give the government more influence on the steel industry than at any point since Margaret Thatcher.
The government is scrambling to save Scunthorpe after its Chinese owner, Jingye Steel Group, last month said it was considering closing it, with the likely loss of 2,700 jobs. Starmer and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, hope to keep the plant running for the next few weeks while they work out the longer-term plan, with nationalisation one option.
British Steel is facing a crisis within a crisis: in the short term – the next week or so – it needs materials, including iron pellets and coking coal, or else it faces the prospect of the furnaces cooling beyond easy or affordable recovery. Customers would flee, making job losses inevitable.
People with knowledge of this week’s talks between the UK government and Jingye said it appeared that the government had run out of patience with the Chinese company’s negotiating. The government had offered to buy the raw materials to keep the blast furnaces running in the short term but that offer was not taken up. Parliament may be able to avert the short-term crisis on Saturday.
What have opposition parties said about today's debate?
Some opposition parties were also furious that other industrial plants in trouble had not been given the same treatment from the government. Plaid Cymru said “the people of Wales would not forget” that the steel plant at Port Talbot was allowed to close its blast furnaces and convert to electric arc production, while the SNP highlighted the different treatment for Grangemouth – Scotland’s only oil refinery, which could close. Government sources said those plants were facing different situations.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the government had “bungled” the negotiations with British Steel.
“They must have seen this coming for a while,” she said. “Instead of addressing it earlier in the week when parliament was sitting, their incompetence has led to a last-minute recall of parliament.”
The Green Party has said it will support any bid to nationalise British Steel.
Green MP Ellie Chowns said nationalisation was “the only sure way to secure this strategically important sector so vital to national security and British jobs”.
The last time parliament was recalled during recess was in 2021, when Afghanistan had to be evacuated during the Taliban takeover. It is also the first recall of parliament on a Saturday since 1982.
One MP said the move was “going down extremely badly” with colleagues who had been given no warning about the need to return to Westminster, when it had been known for weeks that British Steel was in trouble.
Speaking on Friday, Starmer said the “future of British steel hangs in the balance” and he would not stand by while the last blast furnaces in the UK were closed, shutting an essential industry. He said:
We will pass emergency legislation in one day to give the Business Secretary the powers to do everything possible to stop the closure of these blast furnaces.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister has been clear, his government will always act in the national interest. All actions we take are in the name of British industry, British jobs and for British workers.
Tomorrow (Saturday), parliament will be recalled to debate the steel industry (special measures) bill. The bill provides the government with the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site. It enables the UK government to preserve capability and ensure public safety. It also ensures all options remain viable for the future of the plant and the livelihoods it supports.
We have been negotiating with British Steel’s owners in good faith ever since coming to office. We have always been clear there is a bright future for steel in the UK. All options remain on the table.
Will British Steel be nationalised?
When the legislation is passed, Jonathan Reynolds will be able to order the company to buy the raw materials to keep two blast furnaces going at the plant and the taxpayer will take on the costs of the purchases. The company’s owner, Jingye, has said it is losing about £700,000 a day.
The issue of nationalisation will be dealt with separately and is not certain to happen, but senior sources said it was the likely outcome and the government would look at potential private sector partners for a transfer of ownership and co-investment.
The company declined to comment and it remains unclear how Jingye will respond to being directed by the UK government.
Government sources said generous offers had been made to the Chinese company that any rational actor would have accepted, and that the UK was taking action to keep the furnaces going in order to continue talks about the next steps. Once they had been allowed to stop, the furnaces would be impossible to restart.
Updated
MPs to debate emergency legislation to save British Steel
Good morning and welcome to a slightly unusual Saturday edition of our politics live blog.
Keir Starmer is stepping in to seize control of British Steel to stop its Chinese owner shutting the Scunthorpe plant in an unprecedented move that paves the way for likely nationalisation.
The prime minister was granted a recall of parliament on Saturday, with MPs set to debate emergency laws that will give the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, the power to direct the company.
The Commons will sit at 11am, with MPs called back from Easter recess to discuss putting the assets under public control. The government will aim to get emergency legislation through the Commons and Lords in one day of sitting.
We’ll cover the debate live while also bringing you analysis and other political updates throughout the day.
