Sun Apr 13 00:04:00 UTC 2025: **UK Government Takes Control of British Steel Plant in Emergency Rescue**
**London, April 13, 2025** – The UK government has taken control of Britain’s last remaining integrated steel plant, British Steel, after Parliament approved an emergency bill on Saturday. The move prevents the plant’s Chinese owner, Jingye Group, from closing its Scunthorpe facility, safeguarding 3,000 jobs.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the rare Saturday sitting of Parliament to pass the bill, which grants Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds the power to manage the plant’s operations, ensure worker salaries, and procure necessary raw materials to keep the blast furnaces running.
Jingye cited daily losses of £700,000 due to market challenges and increased environmental costs, exacerbated by recent US tariffs on imported steel. The company’s cancellation of iron pellet orders prompted immediate government intervention to prevent the furnaces from being shut down permanently.
The Scunthorpe plant’s closure would have left the UK, a former steelmaking giant, as the only G7 nation unable to produce its own steel from scratch, creating significant vulnerabilities for various industries.
While the government’s action doesn’t transfer ownership, it allows for future possibilities and includes potential legal sanctions against Jingye if it fails to comply. The government criticized Jingye for making “excessive” demands during negotiations. The future role of Jingye in the plant’s day-to-day operations remains unclear. The rescue has been met with relief in Scunthorpe, a town with a 150-year history of steelmaking.
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