'You're the backbone of British Steel,' Starmer tells workers after emergency bill to save plant clears first hurdle
12 April 2025, 16:24 | Updated: 12 April 2025, 16:30
Keir Starmer has told British Steel workers that they are "the backbone" of the company" after he travelled to meet them following the government's emergency bill passing its first hurdle in Parliament.
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The PM told steelworkers at the Scunthorpe plant that it was "important to recognise" their work, after emergency legislation aimed at safeguarding UK steel production reached its second reading.
The bill, which now has gone to the Lords, is aimed at protecting the last British steel plant that can make the metal from scratch.
Hours before MPs met to debate the legislation, police were called to the Scunthorpe plant following reports of unrest between workers and Chinese businessmen from the firm.
Sir Keir told the workers: "You are the people who have kept this going. You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it's really important that we recognise that.
"And I felt it was really important today, having been in Parliament this morning, to come straight up here to see you face to face to have that discussion with you.
"Because this shouldn't be a remove thing that's happening down in Westminster, in Parliament, it should be something that's living and breathing. It's your jobs, your lives, your communities, your families."
The steelworkers thanked the Prime Minister for the Government's action, with one adding: "We're not there yet, we've still got a lot of hard work to do."
MPs returned to Parliament on Saturday to vote on whether to bring British Steel under Government control - a move that marks the first Saturday sitting since the Falklands War.
The Government is attempting to avoid the possibility of nationalisation, after the steel company reported it was haemorrhaging around £700,000 a day.
The plans would see taxpayer money used to prop-up the steelworks, funding materials and leading to the possible transfer of ownership after Starmer said the British works' future "hangs in the balance".
Speaking on Saturday, Reynolds asserted that he does not believe that steel production is a declining industry in the UK.
Jonathan Reynolds said Jingye wanted the Government to give them “hundreds of millions of pounds” which could have been transferred to China along with British Steel assets.
Speaking from outside Parliament, Nigel Farage told LBC the Government should nationalise British Steel, labelling the Saturday recall the government "being dramatic".
"It's a sticking plaster. If Jingye, the Chinese owners, are bad faith actors, which I've believed them to be for five years - and even today, the Business Secretary said they aren't acting in good faith - they should have just gone the whole hog today, nationalised it, and sold it on."
Speaking in the Commons, Reynolds told MPs: “The British Government offered to purchase raw materials in a way that would have ensured no losses whatsoever for Jingye in maintaining the blast furnaces for a period of time," Reynolds told Parliament.
"A counter offer was instead made by Jingye to transfer hundreds of millions of pounds to them, without any conditions to stop that money and potentially other assets being immediately transferred to China."
“They also refused a condition to keep the blast furnaces maintained and in good working order.”
However, despite proposals appearing to garner widespread backing, Labour faced criticism from Tory MPs, with show cabinet member Alex Burghart declaring "the government has made a total pig's breakfast" of the situation.
Steel plant worker Rich Petchey, who works in the control room of one of the blast furnaces, told LBC he remains "optimistic" that the plant will be saved from nationalisation.
"But in the same breath we're pessimistic, because we don't really know what's going on. We've never been given the full picture," he admitted.
It comes as Industry Minister Sarah Jones told Ben Kentish the Government had offered Jingye, the firm's Chinese owners, a "generous" deal funded by the taxpayer but insisted the firm continued to act in "bad faith".
"We were acting in good faith and the company we believed were also acting in good faith. We wanted to secure a deal with them," the Labour minister told LBC.
Industry minister Sarah Jones joins Ben Kentish | Watch in full
The emergency bill, which is being debated during the parliamentary recall, outlines:
- Failure to comply with Government orders could see firm members face two years in prison.
- Permission for the Government to pay the salaries of workers.
- Permission for the Government to make orders and appoint officers.
- Permission for the Business Secretary to enter the British Steel premises.
The session saw Shadow Business Secretary, Andrew Griffith, declare: "This is a botched nationalisation plan revealing the government has no plan."
Details of the bill surfaced ahead of the parliamentary recall, with the draft outlining that any member of the Chinese firm failing to comply with government orders could risks two years in prison.
The bill also gives permission for the government to pay salaries, make orders and appoint officers, in addition to allowing the Business Secretary to enter the British Steel premises.
The bill also orders that steel continue to be produced until details of the company's future are ironed out.
Speaking on Saturday, Sarah Jones warned that "there will be criminal consequences if the company does not do what we ask them to do".
British Steel's owners were handed "a significant offer of taxpayers' money for that. What has changed is this bad faith act of not bringing in the raw materials for the blast furnaces. And we have responded by introducing legislation which gives the Secretary of State powers to intervene."
The decision to recall parliament on Saturday is a bid to pass emergency legislation which could pave the way for the nationalisation of British Steel.
"That is not the end of the situation," she warned.
"We will have the powers to intervene on these assets to keep them open and there will be criminal consequences if the company do not do what we ask them to do. And the conversation today enables us to keep the plant open, save British Steel and keep our options open for what comes next".
Both the Commons and the Lords will break from Easter recess this morning - a highly unusual Saturday sitting that will see politicians and peers debate a Bill aimed at blocking the company’s Chinese owners from closing blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe plant.
The plans would see taxpayer money used to provide materials to the steelworks.
‘We must nationalise British steel,’ Reform’s Richard Tice says
The recall could open the door to a transfer ownership of the firm, after Sir Keir Starmer warned the future of the firm “hangs in the balance”.
It comes as one MP suggested British Steel owner Jingye was not negotiating “in good faith” about saving the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe.
Sarah Jones said on Saturday: “We have been negotiating with the owners of British Steel to try and secure a way forward.
She added: “We made a very generous offer to them, which has been rejected."
"We have been acting throughout this period in good faith, but we believe that in recent times the company have not been acting in good faith."
The parliamentary recall has led many to question whether todays measures act as a 'holding pattern' until the government finds a solution that could save the firm without nationalisation.
Questions have also been raised on the impact on the taxpayer of saving British Steel - with the firm's Chinese owners claiming the plant is making "significant" losses, haemorrhaging in the region of £700,000 a day.
Ministers hope to secure a private partner to open up co-investment options for a transition but urgent temporary action was seen as necessary to keep the plant running until longer-term plans are agreed.
Speaking on Friday, Sir Keir Starmer told Downing Street the emergency recalls it so "protect" British steelmaking.
He said he "will also act in the national interest to protect British jobs and British workers".
"This afternoon, the future of British Steel hangs in the balance," Sir Keir said."Jobs, investment, growth. Our economic and national security are all on the line."
The Commons sitting will begin at 11am and the House of Lords from midday in the first parliamentary recall on a Saturday since 1982, when MPs returned after the start of the Falklands War.
Job loss fears at British Steel
Other significant recalls during recent years included a midweek sitting during the summer recess in August 2021 to debate the evacuation from Afghanistan.
In a letter to MPs shared with the PA news agency, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he was satisfied the “public interest” requires the recall to debate the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill.
Jingye, which bought British Steel in 2020, has said it invested more than £1.2 billion to maintain operations amid ongoing production instability.
The Government says the new law would allow it to order raw materials for Scunthorpe’s blast furnaces amid fears supplies are on the brink of running out.
Ministers would be able to direct the company’s board and workforce, and ensure anyone at the plant “who takes steps to keep it running, against the orders of the Chinese ownership” can be reinstated if they are sacked.
The proposals to close Scunthorpe’s furnaces had sparked fears of job losses at the plant, which employs thousands of people.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Jingye had confirmed the plans despite months of talks and a £500 million co-investment offer from Government, leaving ministers “no choice” but to act to spare job losses and save the plant.
Unions welcomed the move but Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of having “bungled the negotiations” and said “their incompetence has led to a last-minute recall of Parliament.”
Liberal Democrat Sir Ed Davey called the debate an opportunity to advance “a serious plan for the sustainable future of domestic steel production” while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage reiterated his backing for nationalisation.
