Starmer saved British Steel 'to protect national security'

Emergency plans to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe blast furnaces by taking control away from its Chinese owners were approved by parliament yesterday after an extraordinary Saturday sitting.

- KATE DEVLIN

At a historic Commons session – the first Saturday recall since the Falklands war in 1982 – MPs backed wide-ranging moves that will allow ministers to keep the plant working in the hopes a new buyer can be found.

Ministers had taken the unusual step of recalling parliament from its Easter recess after negotiations with British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, appeared to break down.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds accused the firm of planning to “irrevocably and unilaterally” shut the furnaces down by starving them of raw materials – as it emerged that police were called after reports executives were blocked from entering.

Humberside Police said officers attended following a suspected breach of the peace, but no arrests were made.

Later, the prime minister met with steelworkers near Scunthorpe to discuss the plans. He told them: “You are the people who have kept this going. You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognise that.”

He added in a statement yesterday evening: “This government is turning the page on a decade of decline, where our manufacturing heartlands were hollowed out by the previous government. Our industry is the pride of our history – and I want it to be our future too.”