MPs were hurriedly making their way back from their Easter breaks to a bustling Commons chamber in Westminster that morning. The hectic day culminated with Government officials taking charge after King Charles granted Royal Assent to the emergency law.
A special Saturday session was convened to prevent the closure of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, necessitating the swift passage of the new law through both houses and its endorsement by the monarch before the day drew to a close. This was crucial to authorize Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to assume authority before the furnaces went cold.
The day was marked by high drama, with a last-minute attempt by executives from the Chinese owners Jingye to access the plant thwarted by British Steel workers. The workers stood their ground until law enforcement intervened and escorted the executives out, just moments before the legislation was finalized.
While the new law stopped short of nationalisation, Mr Reynolds said full state ownership ‘remains on the table’ and may be the ‘likely option’ for British Steel.
He accused the company of failing to negotiate ‘in good faith’ after it decided to stop buying enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces going. He also accused the plant’s owner of trying to shut down Britain’s steel industry, saying Jingye, which bought
British Steel in 2020, has ‘irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steel making’.
The intervention came amid fears that the plant could close within days, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
The extraordinary Saturday sitting to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant from closing required the new law to clear both houses unopposed and receive royal approval before nightfall
Just hours before the legislation passed, executives from Chinese owners Jingye attempted to enter the plant (pictured) but were blocked by British Steel workers until police arrived and forced them to leave
The Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act gives the Government the power to instruct steel companies in England to keep the plant open, with criminal penalties for executives if they fail to comply.Â
While being seen as a step towards nationalisation, sources said that the preference was to secure new private investment to save the plant, which Jingye says loses £700,000 a day.
A Government source said it took a ‘big political heave’ to get officials to pass the legislation and change the mindset of Whitehall to pave the way for potential nationalisation. But opposition MPs accused ministers of a ‘botched nationalisation’, with Conservative MP Alex Burghart saying the Government had made a ‘total pig’s breakfast’ of saving British Steel.
Labour grandee Lord Glasman said the law raised hopes the steel industry ‘will never, ever be put back into the hands of profiteers and hostile powers’.
Speaking in the Lords, the peer who founded the influential ‘Blue Labour’ movement hinted at the beginning of a ‘new era’ of industrial strategy and intervention by the Government.
Opposition MPs warned the emergency powers did not have a ‘sunset clause’ – when they automatically expire. But Mr Reynolds said: ‘I want this to be a temporary position, I do not want these powers any minute longer than is necessary but I do need these powers to rectify and save this situation.’
However, one Tory source said: ‘This is Socialism Saturday. It is appropriation of private property.’ The source raised concerns that the Bill gives the Government power to use ‘force if necessary’ to enter relevant premises.
But other MPs said the Government had not gone far enough.
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice called on Mr Reynolds to ‘show your cojones’ and nationalise British Steel, claiming it could become a ‘long-term, viable’ asset for taxpayers, adding: ‘We will support this Bill today. But there is an opportunity to go further, to be bold, be courageous.’
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said ‘the whole steel industry’ needs to be taken into public ownership, saying it could be ‘the bedrock of the manufacturing industry in Britain’.
Scunthorpe residents welcomed seizing control and many would back nationalisation – saying taxpayers’ money would be a small price to pay for rescuing the future of the industry from no future at all.
Local mum Michaela Kennington, 30, said: ‘I hope it goes through. If it stops that will be it and they won’t be able to get the furnaces back on. That would be disastrous for the town.Â
‘There are many local companies that rely on them as well. If it’s going to be taxpayers’ money at least it will be going to something useful and something we want it to go to.’
Former steel worker Christopher Corrigan, 75, said: ‘Better late than never. I spent 33 years on the steelworks till my bit shut – the coke ovens.
‘We used coking coal to make coke which is what the blast furnaces needs. Hopefully, if they rebuild the blast furnaces, it will secure the future of Scunthorpe.
‘The Chinese owners said they could not realign the furnaces two years ago and they could not keep them going until they changed to an electric arc.
‘What they are proposing is not nationalisation but it is putting the Government in charge and it has got to be better than the future we have at the moment, which as it stands will be nothing.’
Mary Penhanagan, 63, said: ‘I would like them to nationalise it. This gives them the power to run it until they can. But I have always been a Labour voter so I do think it will be nationalised.’
And Tom Peart, 42, said: ‘If the Chinese owners are running it into the ground, the Government should take over and take it back.
‘Why do we let China own our steel in the first place?
‘There are enough rich people in Britain and we should be investing in our own children.’
