Workers at British Steel in Scunthorpe are feeling more optimistic about their future today after the government reassured them that it would secure the raw materials needed to stop the blast furnaces from shutting down.
Parliament was recalled this weekend to pass emergency legislation to save the plant, which had been facing imminent closure.
Its Chinese owner, Jingye, had called the blast furnaces “no longer financially sustainable”. Without the coal required to keep them going, the furnaces would no longer be able to produce steel and around 2,700 jobs would be under threat.
In a statement this weekend, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the government had “worked tirelessly” to find a way forward for the troubled plant.
He said it had made “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.”
British Steel
Reynolds added that it had become clear that Jingye’s intention was to refuse to buy sufficient raw materials to keep the furnaces running.
After the government’s offer, the company responded with a counter-offer asking the UK government to transfer “hundreds of millions of pounds” to them with no guarantee that money and assets would not be transferred to China.
“In this situation, with the clock being run down, doing nothing was not an option,” Reynolds told MPs.
“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.”
The emergency legislation passed over the weekend gives the Department of Business and Trade powers to direct the company – that is, keep staff employed, order new materials and keep the furnaces running.
However, Jingye retains its ownership for the time being. The government hopes to secure private investment but has said that public ownership (nationalisation) is “the likely option”.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national officer for the GMB union, said she had been “wholly reassured” that the coking coal necessary for the furnaces would be paid for and delivered in the next few days.
GMB general secretary Gary Smith said that workers had been concerned about “industrial vandalism” if Jingye executives gained access to the site.
He said: “I’m sure that people are still very worried about that, but these people performed heroics yesterday to ensure that we’ve got a fighting chance for the steel industry in this country. They were legitimately concerned about industrial sabotage.”
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