Steel Plant Closure Plan Puts 2,700 Jobs at Risk

British Steel plans to close its two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations in Scunthorpe, putting up to 2,700 jobs at risk.

- Julia Kollewe

The company, owned by China's Jingye, said it would immediately start consultations with its workforce and unions on redundancies stemming from the planned closures, alongside a reduction of steel rolling-mill capacity. The closures would affect between 2,000 and 2,700 workers out of a workforce of about 3,500, British Steel. said, and will bring an end to steelmaking in Scunthorpe after 160 years.

The proposals, which were condemned by the unions Unite, GMB and Community, will leave the UK as the only G7 country unable to make steel domestically from scratch, after the Indian conglomerate Tata said last September that it was closing two blast furnaces at Port Talbot in south Wales with the loss of 2,500 jobs.

The industry body UK Steel said the Scunthorpe closure would mean the UK losing steelmaking capabilities critical to transport, infrastructure and construction. Its director general, Gareth Stace, said: "The end of steelmaking at British Steel would mean we have a major gap in capacity to meet the future demand of the nation and will be an irreparable break in the armour of national security."