Rivals join race against time to save Scunthorpe blast furnaces

British Steel managers are to deploy emergency measures in a race against time to save the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, as the business secretary refused to guarantee it could get the raw materials it needs in time.

- Jessica Elgot Jasper Jolly

The company is understood to be looking at offers of help from more than a dozen businesses, including rivals, to obtain materials such as iron ore and coking coal, potentially allowing it to avoid temporary shutdown of one of two blast furnaces.

On Saturday, parliament passed a one-day bill containing emergency powers to gain control of the Scunthorpe site after its Chinese owner, Jingye, declined government support to keep the plant running over the next few weeks.

British Steel's UK management team is now scrambling to buy the materials, with help from government officials.

The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, declined to directly accuse Jingye of sabotaging the plant but it is understood ministers do not expect it to return to any negotiations.

Reynolds said the emergency government action meant there was now a "high trust bar" for Chinese firms to invest in critical UK industries.

"It might not be sabotage, it might be neglect," Reynolds told the BBC yesterday. "The conscious decision not just to not order raw materials but to sell existing supplies of raw materials is the significant change that required the government to step in."

Reynolds said there would not be a full ban on Chinese investment in British industry, with MPs raising questions about whether companies would be allowed to invest in new nuclear sites.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been on a charm offensive with Beijing to try to attract investment.