LONDON (AP) — U.K. lawmakers returned to Parliament from their Easter break on Saturday to approve an emergency rescue of the country's last remaining factory that makes steel from scratch.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer summoned lawmakers for the highly unusual Saturday sitting to debate a bill aimed at blocking British Steel's Chinese owners, Jingye Group, from closing the two massive blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant in the north of England that are key in the steelmaking process.
If the bill passes, which is expected, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will have the power to direct the company’s board and work force, ensure its 2,700 workers get paid and order the raw materials necessary to keep the blast furnaces running.
The decision to introduce the emergency legislation was given added urgency by the recent move by Jingye to cancel orders for the iron pellets used in the blast furnaces. Without the pellets and other raw materials, such as coking coal, they would likely have to shut for good, potentially within days, as the furnaces are extremely difficult and expensive to restart once they have cooled.
That would mean the U.K. would be the only country in the Group of Seven industrial nations without the capacity to make its own steel from scratch rather than from scrap. The repercussions would be huge for industries like construction, defense and rail.
“In this situation, with the clock being run down, doing nothing was not an option," Reynolds told lawmakers. "We could not, will not and never will stand idly by while heat seeps from the U.K.’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.”
Reynolds said the legislation does not transfer ownership of the plant to the state, but conceded that was a potential discussion for a future date and possibly the “likely” option. He also confirmed that given the steelwork's financial difficulties, its current market value was effectively zero.
It's unclear what role Jingye, owner of British Steel since 2020, will have in the day-to-day running of the steelworks once the legislation passes. But should it fail to abide by the new laws, the company and its executives would face legal sanction.
Jingye, which has said the Scunthorpe plant is financially unsustainable due to “challenging market conditions” and increased environmental costs, has for months sought a government rescue but discussions have failed to reach a successful outcome. Last month's decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a 25% tariffs on imported steel was another blow.
At its height in the postwar period, British steelmaking was a global leader, employing more than 300,000 people, before cheaper offerings from China and other countries hit production. It now employs about 40,000 directly, with the industry accounting for just 0.1% of the British economy.
Britain’s remaining steelmakers are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Most have shifted to electric arc furnaces that make steel from recycled material. That has left Scunthorpe as the only factory with blast furnaces to make so-called virgin steel.
The last time lawmakers were called back from their recess to sit on a Saturday was in 1982, in the aftermath of Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic.
