China urges UK to 'act with fairness' on British Steel, amid race to save plant - with vital materials now 'in the UK'

14 April 2025, 10:48 | Updated: 14 April 2025, 11:34

The Chinese embassy has urged the UK to "act with fairness" after MPs voted to take control of British Steel.

The embassy said it was "following closely the developments of British Steel", which is still owned by Chinese company Jingye but is likely to be privatised.

Officials said: "We have urged the British side to act in accordance with the principles of fairness, impartiality and non-discrimination and to make sure the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese company be protected.

"It is an objective fact that British steel companies have generally encountered difficulties in recent years.

"It is hoped that the British government will actively seek negotiation with the relevant Chinese company to find a solution acceptable to all parties."

Read more: Race to save British Steel from permanent shutdown, as union raises fear of 'sabotage' by Chinese owners

Read more: Nationalisation of British Steel 'likely outcome' as Business Secretary admits he 'wouldn't have appointed Chinese firm'

Watch Again: Nick Ferrari is joined by Reform UK's Richard Tice | 14/04/25

It comes as British Steel staff, civil servants and even different companies are spending Monday attempting to avert the permanent shutdown of Britain's last primary steelmaking plant.

The company, which was taken over by the Government on Saturday, faces a race against time to ensure it has enough raw materials to keep the two blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant burning.

Without those materials, such as coking coal and iron ore, the blast furnaces will cool, risking irreparable damage and the end of steelmaking in the Lincolnshire town.

The national secretary of the GMB union, which represents many British Steel workers, has said it is "hopeful" that materials needed to keep furnaces burning will be delivered in the next 48 hours.

Andy Prendergast said: "Where we are at the moment is that we're confident that the deal being done with the raw materials, and the steps being taken will get there on time, and ultimately that has the potential to preserve the future for the plant.

"There still needs to be... a deal to be done for the future. Whether that's our preference - which is nationalisation of what is a key national asset - or whether that's a genuine private investor who's willing to come in and put the money.

"I think for us the key thing is that we keep this plant going and keep virgin steel-making capacity in the UK."

Asked about an expected timeline for getting the material in, Mr Prendergast said: "We're being told it's going to come in good time, so we're... hopeful that it's the next 48 hours but we haven't had confirmation of that.

"However, we believe the steps taken would be meaningless if there weren't the logistics in place to get it to the plant on time".

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that getting rid of the net zero target would bring down energy costs and help make the plant more viable.

Caller Aaron gives Natasha Devon insight into how Scunthorpe is handling the problems at British Steel

On Sunday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was unable to guarantee this would not happen but said taking over the plant had given the Government "a chance" to save it.

One major issue for British Steel is the cost of industrial electricity, which in the UK is higher than in many other developed countries.

This makes the cost of producing steel relatively high. Britain now only produces a small fraction of the world's steel.

Mr Tice told Nick: "We need to scrap net stupid zero, get our energy costs down, scrap the ridiculous carbon taxes and have a long term procurement contract for the input costs and the products that produce the brilliant products they steal.

"That's how you create a viable business. We can make a great success of it."

A government minister told LBC that the Chinese company that owns British Steel had "behaved irresponsibly".

James Murray, a junior Treasury minister, said: "We've been negotiating with them in good faith since the general election and have made a generous offer to them to keep production Scunthorpe going.

"What became clear in recent days is that they were accelerating plans to close the blast furnaces, which is why we had to act so quickly to get the legislation in on Saturday in the House of Commons and why we've now got officials who've been in there since the legislation passed.

"They're in there today trying to get that raw material into the blast furnaces to keep production going".