Government seeks control of British Steel in potential move to nationalisation

MPs and peers will break from Easter recess to debate the Bill as part of plans that would see taxpayer money used to keep the steelworks running.

British Steel will be taken under Government control to keep the company’s Scunthorpe plant running in a move that paves the way for nationalisation, if emergency legislation is passed on Saturday.

Sir Keir Starmer said Parliament would be recalled for a rare weekend sitting to vote on the Bill aimed at blocking the company’s Chinese owners, Jingye, from closing blast furnaces at the Lincolnshire site.

MPs and peers will debate the legislation as part of plans that would see taxpayer money used to provide materials to the steelworks, after the Prime Minister warned the future of the firm “hangs in the balance”.

The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill stops short of full nationalisation, but a later change of ownership is seen by ministers as the likely future outcome, it is understood.

It will give the Government “the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site”, Downing Street said.

Ministers hope to secure a private partner to open up co-investment options for a transition, but urgent temporary action was seen as necessary to keep the plant running until longer-term plans are agreed.

Speaking from Downing Street on Friday, Sir Keir said: “As Prime Minister, I will always act in the national interest to protect British jobs and British workers.

“This afternoon, the future of British Steel hangs in the balance.

“Jobs, investment, growth, our economic and national security are all on the line.”

He said that while the UK is facing a “new era of global instability”, concerns about the plant and talks to protect it have been going on “for years”.

“This moment could have happened at any time, but it has happened now, and I will not stand by. There is no time to waste,” he said.

“So we are recalling Parliament tomorrow for a Saturday sitting. We will pass emergency legislation in one day to give the Business Secretary the powers to do everything possible to stop the closure of these blast furnaces.

“And as I have said, we will keep all options on the table.”

The Commons Saturday sitting will begin at 11am and the House of Lords will sit from midday, in the first parliamentary recall on a Saturday since 1982, when MPs returned after the start of the Falklands War.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always do what is necessary to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad.

“We are doing what previous governments have failed to, acting in the national interest to help secure UK steelmaking for the future

“We negotiated with British Steel’s owners in good faith ever since coming to office.

“We made a generous offer of support to the company and I am deeply disappointed that we have been forced to take these measures, but Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process, and left us no choice but to act.

“We’re in a new and changing world where it’s never been more important to support our security and build our resilience, so that we can have strength abroad and renewal at home, and that’s what this government has done.”