British Steel: Government races to keep Scunthorpe furnaces burning

Officials are working to deliver essential raw materials to British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, the government has said, as it races to keep its blast furnaces burning.

An emergency law rushed through Parliament on Saturday gave the government control of the Lincolnshire site to prevent its Chinese owner shutting it down.

The government said work was under way on Monday to obtain the coking coal and iron ore that power the plant’s two furnaces – materials it previously said owners Jingye had been selling off.

“My team are already hard at work on the ground to keep jobs going and furnaces burning,” the business secretary said in a statement.

Dozens of businesses including steel producers Tata and Rainham Steel have offered help and to supply their raw materials, the government added.

How quickly materials get to the site is important because blast furnaces can sustain permanent damage if their temperature drops too low.

Restarting a furnace that has shut down is also a costly and complex process.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “When I said steelmaking has a future in the UK, I meant it.

“That’s why we’ve passed these new powers to save British Steel at Scunthorpe and that’s why my team are already hard at work on the ground to keep jobs going and furnaces burning.”

Civil servants and British Steel officials are trying to secure one such shipment of materials which is sat 30 miles east of Scunthorpe at Immingham Docks.

It comes after Reynolds refused to confirm on Sunday whether the government could obtain the materials in time.

“I’m not going to get into that,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, but said the takeover gave the “opportunity” to obtain the materials needed.

The Scunthorpe plant employs 2,700 people and is the last site in the UK that can produce virgin steel.

Without the plant, the UK would be the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make virgin steel – which the government believes is a risk to the country’s economic security.

The government fast-tracked legislation which gave it control of the plant after talks with Jingye to save it appeared to break down.

The company said in March it was losing £700,000 a day at the site, which it called “no longer financially sustainable,” and began a consultation on its closure.

Reynolds told the BBC it “became clear” during negotiations that Jingye was intent on closing down the blast furnaces no matter the financial support offered.

The government said Jingye refused an offer of some £500m and demanded more than twice as much money, with few guarantees it would keep the plant open.

“It might not be sabotage, it might be neglect,” Reynolds said of the company’s actions.

The Conservatives have criticised the government for not stepping in sooner to save the plant.

Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the party had supported the emergency law because “it’s the least worst option on the table”.