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 unusual Saturday sitting, only the sixth since World War II, to back a bill primarily 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.
The bill gives Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds the power to direct the company’s board and workforce, ensure its 3,000 workers get paid and order the raw materials necessary to keep the blast furnaces running.
Jingye has said the Scunthorpe plant is losing 700,000 pounds ($910,000) a day as a result of challenging market conditions and increased environmental costs. The recent decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a 25% tariffs on imported steel hasn’t helped.
After Parliament passed the bill, Starmer headed to Scunthorpe to meet workers, who were clearly relieved that the town’s steelmaking heritage, which stretches back around 150 years, has been preserved.
“You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognize that,” Starmer said. “It’s your jobs, your lives, your communities, your families.”
The relief in the town was evident during the interval of Scunthorpe United’s soccer match, where the crowd at the Attis Arena cheered on a few dozen steelworkers on the field of play. The team is known as “The Iron,” a fond reflection of the town’s identity.
Starmer had been under pressure to act after Jingye’s recent decision to cancel orders for the iron pellets used in the blast furnaces. Without them and other raw materials, such as coking coal, the furnaces would likely have to shut for good, potentially within days, as they are extremely difficult and expensive to restart once cooled.
That would mean the U.K., which in the late 19th century was the world’s steelmaking powerhouse, 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 recycled material, which use greener electric arc furnaces rather than blast furnaces.
The repercussions would be huge for industries like construction, defense and rail and make the country dependent on foreign sources for so-called virgin steel, a vulnerability that lawmakers from all political parties balked at.
“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 told lawmakers.
Reynolds criticized Jingye for making “excessive” demands of the government in discussions in recent months, and that without the government’s intervention, the company would have “irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steel making at British Steel.”
Though the legislation does not transfer ownership of the plant to the state, Reynolds conceded it was a future possibility.
It’s unclear what role Jingye, owner of British Steel since 2020, will have in the day-to-day running of the steelworks. But should it fail to abide by the new laws, the company and its executives could face legal sanctions.
U.K. lawmakers returned to Parliament from their Easter break to approve an emergency rescue of the country’s last remaining factory that makes steel directly from scratch.
LONDON – 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 directly from raw materials.
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 blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant in the north of England.
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If the bill passes, which is expected, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will have the power to direct the company’s board and workforce, ensure workers get paid and order the raw materials necessary to keep the plant’s two massive blast furnaces running.
Starmer said Friday that the future of the plant “hangs in the balance,” necessitating the need for the quick-fire legislation and the recall of Parliament.
Though Starmer did not use not use the term “nationalization,” he did say all options remain on the table for the steel works, which employs around 2,700 workers directly.
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, they would likely have to shut for good, potentially within days.
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.
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.
Though Starmer has expressed disappointment, he has not retaliated and is seeking to negotiate the tariffs away.
Unions have welcomed his initiative to call back Parliament and voiced hope that it will eventually lead to the government taking ownership of the plant.
“It is in the national interest that a solution is found to secure a future for British Steel as a vital strategic business,” said Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the union Community. “We can’t allow Britain to become the only G7 country without primary steelmaking capacity.”
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 capable of turning iron ore into virgin steel.
The steel industry is “part of our national story,” Starmer said.
The last time lawmakers have been 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.