British Steel on track to be fully nationalised within weeks

UK plans to take economic control from Chinese owner Jingye a year after stepping in to run plant, sources say British Steel is on track to be fully nationalised within weeks, the Guardian understands, a year after the government took over the daily running of the loss-making business from its Chinese owner. The steelmaker, which employs 3,500 people at its plant in Scunthorpe, was taken under government control last April amid fears that the owner Jingye was planning to shut down the site. British Steel operates the last two remaining blast furnaces in the UK but it is still economically controlled by the Chinese company, which bought it out of insolvency in early 2020. Ministers moved to designate the steel industry as vital to national security last week, which could clear the way for a nationalisation on those grounds, a source with knowledge of the matter said. They are understood to have offered £100m to Jingye for British Steel earlier this month but were rebuffed. The Chinese company had originally demanded more than £1bn. Alternatively, the government could simply set Jingye a deadline for a deal to be done, the source added. Whichever route they go down, ministers plan to