The British government quickly moved on Saturday to take control of businesses at the last major steel production facility in the country, which seems to be an important step towards nationalization of the plant.
In an unusual and dramatic move, the government had called on the legislators behind the holidays on Saturday to approve the government’s emergency legislation.
The government said it was acting to prevent the owners of the British steel complex at Scunthorpe, a Chinese company called Jingye, to take steps unilaterally to close the Highlands, possibly costing 2,700 jobs.
“Steel is fundamental to Britain’s industrial power, our safety and our identity as a primary world power,” Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of Business and Commerce, told Parliament.
Despite the interest in maintaining steel construction now, it has long been reduced in Britain. The production of raw steel has fallen by about 50 % in the last decade, according to UK Steel, a commercial team.
The industry in Britain is struggling at high energy costs as well as competition, mainly from China, which now makes more than half of all global steel.
The 25 percent invoices recently imposed by President Trump on steel imported to the United States have added a further obstacle.
In this difficult environment, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is in danger of being stuck with the support of a business whose owners say they lose £ 700,000 a day or about $ 915,000.
The government insists that it does not nationalize British Steel, but confirms the control of the Board of Directors and the administration and seems to take responsibility for operating costs.
In a sign of the increasingly bitter tone of the dispute, the government said on Friday that workers who are fired for the “defense of Chinese owners” could be restored.
The government says it wants to find a partner to invest in a more green steel production process, but critics say these moves are equivalent to nationalization.
“This is a plan of nationalization,” warned Andrew Griffith, a spokesman for the Conservative Opposition Business Council.
A variety of incentives seems to be behind Mr Starmer’s approach.
It was skeptical of leaving a large factory close to the cost of thousands of jobs by its trade unions.
Last year, Tata Steel, the big -based company in India, closed much of Britain’s other large British steel at Port Talbot in Wales, leading to major job losses.
“We had great concerns about this and a lot of anger,” said Alasdair McDiarmid, Assistant Secretary General of the Community Union, who represents many steel workers.
In a world of growing economic nationalism, Mr Starmer seems to have accepted the argument that it is important for a country to maintain some domestic capacity to do what is known as Virgin Steel.
The British steel factory in Scunthorpe, in northeast England, has the last two British launches, huge chambers producing tender metal using iron and coke, a carbon derivative. Other mills finish raw steel on products such as train lines and beams for the construction industry.
The pressure to maintain the Scunthorpe Open seems to have increased after Trump administration signals that it was less dedicated to European security than previous US administrations. President Trump’s invoices were also apparently part of this calculation.
“Given global economic instability, it is vital to build at home,” the government said on Friday.
Mr Reynolds said he was doing what he called “generous” aid of help to Jingye, who proposed to shift production to scunthorpe in electric ovens that would make steel with scrap metal.
The blasts like the scuntorpes make high quality steel, as well as broadcasts, and many European steel companies are thinking of turning into other technologies.
Mr Reynolds told the legislators that Jingye wanted what he called a “excessive amount” of government support. The cost of conversion to electric furnaces was estimated at £ 2 or more.
He also said that in recent days, Jingye has appeared to be trying to starve the blasts of raw materials such as Coke to force a closure. “The company would therefore have irrevocably and unilaterally closed the primary steel construction,” he said.
A British Steel spokesman refused to comment. The company reported in a press release last month that it had invested £ 1.2 billion in British Steel since it took over in 2020.
