China accuses UK politicians of 'arrogance' in steel dispute

China has accused UK politicians of "arrogance, ignorance and a twisted mindset" as it defended British Steel's owner, Jingye, after a barrage of criticism over the narrowly averted shutdown of its blast furnaces.

- Jasper Jolly

Beijing's embassy in the UK accused unspecified British public figures of slandering China's government and businesses, in comments published yesterday on its website.

It followed criticism of the actions of Jingye, British Steel's Chinese owner since 2020, by the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds.

Reynolds accused Jingye of not acting in good faith after it threatened to shut down British Steel's furnaces at Scunthorpe within days, with the loss of 2,700 jobs.

The government stepped in on Saturday to avoid the shutdowns with emergency legislation to take control of British Steel.

In its first public comments since the government stepped in, Jingye said yesterday that it requested "that the UK government respect and protect the legitimate rights and interests of Jingye as a foreign investor throughout this process".

In a statement to the Financial Times, Jingye said it would "seek a proper solution that ensures a bright future for British Steel", and added that it had previously "safeguarded" jobs and made investments in the plant.