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Affairs Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told deputies that British Steel’s nationalization was a “probable option” even if he had launched a bill to save the business.
Reynolds said that the decision to recall the Parliament for an emergency in an emergency on Saturday had not been taken lightly because he defended government negotiations with Jingye, Chinese owner of British Steel.
The bill, he said, was a “proportional and necessary” step to preserve the primary in steel in the United Kingdom and protect 3,500 jobs, although it did not want to keep the new power for “longer than necessary”.
The 10 -page bill will give sweeping powers in Reynolds to take control of any steel active ingredients deemed at the risk of closing. According to the project, steel companies or managers who do not comply with government orders could be fined or prison for two years.
The bill will allow the government to ask steel companies to maintain the assets in progress and to resume these assets if the companies do not respect these instructions. It also provides for a cost remuneration plan incurred by a company.
Reynolds admitted that emergency legislation was not a magic wand and that finding a private sector partner remained the government’s favorite option. Nationalization, however, remained the probable long -term option, noting that the business value of the company was zero.
It has become clear in recent days, said Reynolds during the debate, that the intention of the Chinese company was to cancel and refuse to pay additional orders for the raw materials to ensure the continuous operation of the British Steel stoves, the only two remaining in the United Kingdom.
The government, he added, had proposed to pay the documents, but Jingye rather made a counter-offer so that the ministers pay hundreds of millions of pounds without any condition.
Conservative deputy Alex Burghart said the government “prepared a pork breakfast” for the situation.
Andrew Griffith, ghost affairs secretary, accused the government of “nine months of section and delay” and a “sloppy nationalization of steel with the British taxpayer on the hook”.
The emergency debate comes after the talks with Jingye to keep the ovens in progress. Jingye, who resumed British Steel in 2020, has been in talks with the government for more than 18 months in relation to the support of taxpayers to move to greener forms of steel.
He rejected an offer of 500 million pounds from the ministers last month after warning that operations were no longer “financially viable”. The company said it had lost more than £ 700,000 a month in part to higher prices and non -competitive energy costs.
Jingye was not immediately available to comment on Saturday.
The Minister of Industry, Sarah Jones, said earlier that the deputies had faced a choice between the fact of bringing the government’s bill or the end of the Steel primary in the United Kingdom.
She told Sky News: “If the high stoves are unforeseen, they can never be reopened, steel simply solidifies in these ovens and nothing can be done.”
Maintaining Great Britain steel has become a strategic priority for the government, which has set aside 2.5 billion pounds sterling to support the sector. The closure of the two British Steel stoves would leave the United Kingdom as the only G7 country without the possibility of making steel from zero.
Starmer’s government is developing an industrial strategy to support the crucial sectors and is particularly concerned about the threat to steel from the global price of 25% of US President Donald Trump on steel and aluminum imports.
CHAN HO-HIM additional reports in Hong Kong
