Analysis: Nationalisation will not erase long-term questions

Blast furnaces have been making steel in Britain for 300 years since they helped start the industrial revolution.

- Jasper Jolly

Last furnaces have been making steel in Britain for 300 years since they helped start the industrial revolution. This weekend parliament will sit for the first Saturday in decades as it tries to keep the last two furnaces running for a bit longer.

Keir Starmer has recalled MPs to discuss emergency powers to direct steel companies, including British Steel's Scunthorpe steelworks, to "preserve capability and ensure public safety". The move would be short of nationalisation, but it would still give the government more influence on the steel industry than at any point since Margaret Thatcher was in power.

The government is scrambling to save Scunthorpe after its Chinese owner, Jingye Group, last month said it was considering closing it, with the probable loss of 2,700 jobs. Starmer and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, hope to keep the plant running for the next few weeks while they work out a longer-term plan, with nationalisation as one option.