‘All options’ on table regarding British Steel’s future, says Rachel Reeves
“All options” remain on the table over the future of British Steel, the chancellor has said, as fears mount over the company’s plant in Scunthorpe.
The government is actively considering nationalising British Steel after Jingye, its owner in Scunthorpe, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The decision has led to fears the Scunthorpe plant, the last blast furnaces left operating in Britain, could be forced to close as early as next month.
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Speaking to reporters in Bedfordshire, Rachel Reeves suggested nationalisation could be an option to secure the future of British Steel in Scunthorpe, which was purchased by Jingye out of receivership in 2020.
“All options remain on the table regarding British Steel,” she said.
“This government recognises the importance of those jobs in Scunthorpe and in the local area, and we’re doing everything we can to preserve those jobs and to support those communities.
“We’re in conversation both with the owners and with the trade unions to find a deal.”
On the issue of whether the plant could secure access to the raw materials it needed to run the blast furnaces, the chancellor said the government was in “active discussions now with both the owners and the trade unions”.
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PM ‘absolutely committed to steel production’
Fears over the Scunthorpe plant’s future intensified after talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
The government offered the same amount to Tata Steel, the owner of the steelworks in Port Talbot, which shut down both of its blast furnaces last year and is replacing them with electric arc furnace as part of its transition to greener production methods.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has urged the government to push for a “commercial solution” to save the Scunthorpe plant, to avoid “pain on the British taxpayer”.
She drew comparisons with the Port Talbot steel plant, arguing that she saved it with a £500m rescue package that helped Tata Steel employees facing redundancy as it moved away from blast furnaces to greener steel production.
“It was difficult, but we saved that steel plant,” she said.
“And it’s going to thrive, and it’s going to regenerate the area. Yes, some jobs were lost, but worked for a commercial decision that did not put too much pain on the British taxpayer.”
She said she was “amazed that nine months in, Labour have lost British Steel”.
“And now they’re talking about nationalisation – I want to see what the commercial options are,” she continued.
“They should also be trying to make sure that they reduce tariffs on steel across the board and stop the excessive dumping from China.
“China dumping steel across the world is making steel very cheap from there and more expensive for everyone else. That needs to change. If we’re going to be using steel in our country, we need to be competitive.”
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The questions over the steel plant in Scunthorpe come as ministers hailed a deal for a new Universal theme park in Bedfordshire, which Ms Reeves said would bring “billions” to the economy and create thousands of jobs.
It will be the first Universal-branded theme park and resort in Europe and is set to open in 2031, when it is expected to become the UK’s most popular visitor attraction.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage welcomed the investment but said: “The new Universal theme park should be made with only British steel.”
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Politics
Norman Tebbit: Former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government dies aged 94
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
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