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Nationalization of the steel company British Steel is still an option, according to the British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
Keystone
The British parliament has passed a law to enable the rescue of a steelworks belonging to the ailing company British Steel. Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords voted in favor of the bill by a large majority on Saturday.
With the bill, the government wants to save the blast furnaces in Scunthorpe in north-east England from closure. Prime Minister Keir Starmer explained that the government had "stepped in to save British Steel".
The steel company, owned by the Chinese Jingye Group, announced at the end of March that it was preparing to close its blast furnaces and other parts of its production. Up to 2700 out of 3500 jobs could be cut.
Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds said before the vote in the House of Commons that the rare convening of Parliament on a Saturday highlighted the urgency of the situation. MPs were called back from their Easter break for the vote.
According to him, the law will not directly nationalize the company. However, this option remains "on the table" and is also "the most likely option". However, the government will "not be able to finance the transformation of the company in the long term".
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Starmer visited a village near the steelworks and told steelworkers that the continued operation of the blast furnaces was "in the national interest". "The most important thing is that we have control of the plant and can decide what happens. And that means that the blast furnaces remain in operation," said Starmer.
According to the Chinese parent company Jingye, it has invested more than 1.2 billion pounds (around 1.3 billion Swiss francs) in British Steel since 2020. However, the plant in Scunthorpe with the last two blast furnaces in England is no longer profitable. Jingye is therefore incurring losses of around 700,000 pounds every day.
Steel companies in Europe are under pressure due to high energy costs, cheap supplies from Asia and the 25 percent US tariffs on steel introduced in mid-March. Tata Steel in the Netherlands, for example, announced on Wednesday that it would be cutting 1600 jobs.
In the UK, the Easter break began on Tuesday. The House of Commons in London last interrupted the parliamentary recess in August 2021 for a debate on the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. The last Saturday session took place in October 2019 for a Brexit vote.
12.04.2025, 23:45
