British lawmakers returned to Parliament on Saturday during their Easter recess to approve an emergency intervention aimed at saving the nation’s last factory that still produces steel from raw materials.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened the rare Saturday session to discuss a bill designed to prevent British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye Group, from shutting down the blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe site in northern England.
If, as expected, the legislation is approved, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will be authorised to oversee the company’s board and workforce, ensure staff are paid, and secure the raw materials needed to keep the two giant blast furnaces operational.
On Friday, Starmer stated that the plant’s future was “hanging in the balance,” prompting the urgent legislation and the extraordinary recall of Parliament.
While he did not explicitly mention “nationalisation,” Starmer said all options remain under consideration for the steelworks, which directly employs around 2,700 people.
The move to introduce emergency legislation became more pressing after Jingye recently halted orders for iron pellets required for the blast furnaces. Without those pellets and other essential raw materials, the furnaces could be forced to shut down permanently within days.
It remains unclear what involvement Jingye, which has owned British Steel since 2020, will retain in the plant’s daily operations once the bill becomes law.
Jingye has argued that the Scunthorpe plant is no longer financially viable due to “challenging market conditions” and rising environmental costs. The company had been seeking government support for months, but negotiations have so far failed to yield a deal. The situation was further complicated by last month’s decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a 25% tariff on imported steel.
Although Starmer expressed disappointment over the tariff decision, he has not taken retaliatory measures and is instead pursuing negotiations to have the tariffs lifted.
Trade unions have welcomed the government’s intervention and expressed hope that it might eventually lead to public ownership of the plant.
“It is in the national interest to find a solution that secures the future of British Steel as a critical strategic industry,” said Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union. “We must not allow the UK to become the only G7 country without primary steelmaking capacity.”
British steel production was once a global powerhouse, employing over 300,000 workers during the post-war era, before lower-cost imports from China and elsewhere eroded its dominance. The sector now employs roughly 40,000 people and contributes only 0.1% to the UK economy.
The remaining steel producers in the UK are under increasing pressure to cut carbon emissions. Most have adopted electric arc furnaces using recycled materials, leaving Scunthorpe as the sole plant with blast furnaces capable of producing virgin steel from iron ore.
“The steel industry is part of our national story,” Starmer said.
The last time Parliament was recalled during a recess for a Saturday session was in 1982, following Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.