Was British Steel nationalised yesterday?

Not quite. In a dramatic intervention, MPs passed an emergency law to keep British Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe open.

With 2,700 workers, it is the last UK facility producing virgin steel – which is used in major construction projects such as railways.

The law does not nationalise British Steel but it hands the Business Secretary sweeping powers to direct staff at the company, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the plant’s two blast furnaces switched on. It is effectively a taxpayer-funded bailout of the steel industry, which could cost millions.

Why was Parliament dramatically recalled?

Chinese owner Jingye threatened to shut the blast furnaces and had already stopped taking raw materials.

British Steel lost £350 million in the three years to 2023 and Jingye has been locked in a dispute with ministers over plans to modernise the plant.

The situation reached a crisis point this weekend, with the steelworks just days from closure.

Sir Keir Starmer decided the Government had to step in because once the blast furnaces are turned off it is hugely expensive to switch them back on again.

Why is a loss-making plant being saved?

This became a matter of national security – the plant’s closure would have left the UK as the only member of the G7 group of leading economies unable to make virgin steel.

Steel is the backbone of the modern world, providing the skeletons of buildings, cars and bridges. Network Rail gets 95 per cent of its tracks from the Scunthorpe works, fulfilling orders for around 80,000 tons of steel every year. Other customers include JCB and Caterpillar.

Is the Government’s push for Net Zero to blame?

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s obsession with Net Zero has exacerbated the crisis, with green levies leading to big industrial facilities in the UK paying the world’s highest energy prices.

Industrial firms fork out 25.85p per kilowatt hour, according to official figures – four times more than the 6.48p per kilowatt hour paid by US companies.

What role did Trump’s trade war play?

Donald Trump’s dramatic introduction of tariffs has led many to believe the era of globalisation is over.

As a result, countries will need to produce materials at home rather than using the global supply chains that have built up over decades.

But the world – and in particular China – produces too much steel. This keeps the price low and makes it expensive to produce in the UK, where wages and energy costs are high.

How have the Chinese owners behaved?

Jingye bought the plant in 2020 but has proven itself to be deeply unreliable.

The firm said it wanted to wind down the existing blast furnaces and build a new electric arc furnace, which would use greener methods to produce steel.

But the cost to do so was an estimated £2 billion and the Government was only willing to stump up £500 million of taxpayers’ cash.

Jingye was incensed and announced a consultation to shut the blast furnaces.

Why wasn’t a law passed for Port Talbot’s works?

The steel plant in Port Talbot, South Wales, is also switching to an electric system of production but – unlike in Scunthorpe – the owners did

a deal with the Government. Tata is ploughing £750 million into the project and the Government is contributing another £500 million.

The existing blast furnace has, however, already been closed with the loss of 2,800 jobs. The revamped Port Talbot facility, due to open in 2027, will ultimately require fewer workers to operate.

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