(Files) Workers in the rail and sections hot end rolling mill at the British Steel site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, eastern England on April 17, 2025. (Photo by Danny Lawson / Pool / AFP)
London: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Monday that he would introduce legislation to nationalise Chinese-owned British Steel, after the government took control of the company last year.
"Legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers... to take full national ownership of British Steel," Starmer said in a speech aimed at resetting his leadership after disastrous local elections.
The country's last factory that can make steel from scratch faced imminent closure last year after its Chinese owner Jingye said the plant was no longer financially viable.
After unsuccessful negotiations with the company, the UK government passed emergency legislation to prevent the struggling plant's blast furnaces going out.
Since then, "it has not been possible to agree a commercial sale with the current owner," the government said in a statement on Monday.
"The government believes introducing legislation to provide a route to public ownership is the appropriate next step," it said, adding that the move remained subject to a public interest test.
Nationalisation would bring British Steel back into government ownership for the first time since 1988.
The government has seen the possible closure of the plant in northern England as a threat to Britain's long-term economic security, given the decline of the UK's once-robust steel industry.
