British Steel nationalization is a “likely option,” says business secretary

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Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told deputies that nationalization of the British was a “probable option”, even when he launched the bill to keep the company.

Reynolds said the decision to withdraw the parliament for the extraordinary seat on Saturday was not easily made when he defended the government’s talks with Jingye, the Chinese owner of British Steel.

According to him, the bill was a “proportional and necessary” step for the preservation of the primary metropolitan production in the UK and the protection of 3500 jobs, although it did not want to retain new power for “longer than necessary”.

The 10 pages bill will give Ryinold the powers to take control of any steel assets that are considered the risk of closing. Steel companies or executives who do not comply with the government’s orders may be fined or jailed for two years, the project reports.

The bill will allow the government to instruct steel companies to continue working and assuming these assets unless the companies follow these instructions. It also provides for compensation for the costs incurred by the company.

Reynolds acknowledged that the law on emergencies was not a magical wand, and the search for a private sector’s partner remained a preferred version of the government. The nationalization, however, remained likely in the long run, noting that the company’s market value was zero.

In recent days, it became clear that during the discussion, Reynolds told deputies that the intention of the Chinese company was to cancel and refuse to pay additional orders for raw materials to provide further driving British Steel explosive liver, only two left in the UK.

The government, he added, offered to pay for the materials, but Jingye instead made a counter-proposal to pay hundreds of millions of pounds without any conditions.

Conservative deputy Alex Burgart said the government “made breakfast with a full pig”.

Andrew Griffith, the secretary of the Shadow Business, accused the government of “nine months of delay and delay” and “closed nationalization of steel products with a British taxpayer on the hook”.

Emergency Discussion occurs after negotiations with Jingye to keep the stoves founded. Jingye, who has taken over British steel in 2020, is negotiating with the government for more than 18 months for supporting taxpayers to move to more green forms of steel creation.

Last month, he rejected the $ 500 million proposal after warning that the operations were no longer “financially viable”. The company said it lost more than £ 700,000 a month, which is partially paid with higher tariffs and non -competitive energy costs.

Jingye was not immediately available for comments on Saturday.

Earlier, Industry Minister Sarah Jones said the deputies had faced the choice between the adoption of the government’s bill or the vision of the completion of the basic metropolitan production in the UK.

She said Sky News: “If the explosive stoves are closed in an unplanned way, they can never be restored, steel just froze in these furnaces, and nothing can be done.”

Maintaining the UK steel production has become a strategic priority for the government, which put a 2.5 billion pounds to support the sector. British Steel’s two blasting furnaces will leave the UK as the only G7 country without being able to do steel from scratch.

The Starmer Government is developing an industrial strategy to support important sectors and especially concerned about the threat of a 25 percent global tariff of US President Donald Trump on imports of steel and aluminum.

Additional reporting by Ho-Xu in Hong Kong