Government 'confident' it will secure materials to keep blast furnaces at British Steel plant burning
14 April 2025, 13:35 | Updated: 14 April 2025, 14:02
The Government is "confident" it will secure the supply of materials needed to keep the blast furnaces at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe burning, Downing Street has said.
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An emergency law was rushed through Parliament on Saturday giving the government control of the Lincolnshire site to prevent the Chinese owners from closing the furnaces.
Earlier, the Chinese embassy urged the UK to "act with fairness" following the vote.
The former owner, a company called Jingye, has been accused of "working against the business" and cancelling the shipment of vital materials for the site - sparking a race to secure them.
Now, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We are now confident in securing the supply of materials needed.
"Obviously we will be working with the management to identify further raw materials needed to keep a steady pipeline, and to keep the furnaces burning.
"I'm not going to get ahead of what comes next, but we'll obviously now work on the issues of ownership."
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He added there are two ships carrying materials docked at Immingham port, also in North Lincolnshire, with "a third ship which is currently on route off the coast of Africa, which will be making its way to to the UK".
No 10 would not say whether money had been exchanged for the materials, and said they would reach the plant in the "coming days".
'Hopeful'
The national secretary of the GMB union has said it is "hopeful" that materials needed to keep furnaces at the Scunthorpe steel plant burning will be delivered in the next 48 hours.
Andy Prendergast told the PA news agency: "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".
'Working against the business'
Roy Rickhuss, the general secretary of the Community trade union which represents steelworkers, said Jingye were "working against the business" at their Scunthorpe plant.
Mr Rickhuss told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4: "The Chinese owners Jingye unfortunately were seen to be working against the business, if that's fair to say, that they weren't ordering raw materials.
"Not only that, but they were refusing to pay for raw materials and they were actually turning away raw materials and trying to transfer them elsewhere.
"I think Jingye had a plan. The plan was to close the blast furnaces so they were going to import steel from China to run through our mills, and British Steel would have become what we call a re-rolling facility."
Earlier, 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".
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."
