The government is “confident” it will secure the supply of materials needed to keep the blast furnaces burning at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, Downing Street has said.
Number 10 insisted the plant would remain in use, as staff at the company and civil servants work to prevent the permanent shutdown of Britain’s last steel-making plant.
Officials are racing to ensure there are enough new materials—such as coking coal and iron ore—to keep the North Lincolnshire site running, after ministers passed an emergency law at the weekend to take control of the plant from Chinese owner Jingye.
On Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “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.”
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.”
The spokesman added he was “not aware” of any “deliberate acts of sabotage” at the Scunthorpe steelworks, when asked about suggestions that officials from Jingye might have purposefully attempted to shut the blast furnaces down.
He added: “But as the business secretary [Jonathan Reynolds] and the industry minister [Sarah Jones] said over the weekend, the talks that we were engaging [in] with the Chinese owners became clear that they wanted to shut the blast furnaces.
“That wasn’t an outcome that we wanted to see.”
Union officials have said they are “hopeful” that the materials required at the North Lincolnshire works will arrive within the next 48 hours.
Andy Prendergast, national secretary at the GMB union 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, 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.”
Jingye, British Steel’s Chinese owners, had stopped ordering raw materials and had begun selling off existing supplies, Reynolds has said, sparking concerns the plant could close within days.
The company on Monday appointed interim executives amid efforts to secure its future.
British Steel announced Allan Bell as interim chief executive officer and Lisa Coulson as interim chief commercial officer with immediate effect on Monday.
The government intervened on Saturday after emergency legislation was passed in Parliament.
The Department for Business and Trade said overnight that officials, along with British Steel staff, will spend the coming hours working to bring nearby materials on to site as well as ensuring that staff continue to get paid.
Roy Rickhuss, the general secretary of the Community trade union, which represents steelworkers, accused Jingye of “working against the business.”
He 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.”
China has accused the UK of “politicising” trade cooperation, and suggested its companies could be put off investing in Britain if they were not treated “fairly.”
At a weekly press conference in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, “We hope the British government treats Chinese enterprises investing and operating in the UK fairly and justly, protects their legitimate rights and interests, and avoids politicising and over-securitising economic and trade cooperation, so as not to affect the confidence of Chinese enterprises in investing and cooperating in the UK.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy has said they are following the developments over the Scunthorpe plant “closely,” and that it is an “objective fact” that British steel firms have faced difficulties.
Dozens of businesses, including Tata and Rainham Steel, have rallied to help British Steel with offers of managerial support and raw materials following the government’s takeover.
