The Chinese-owned steel company is the last maker of virgin steel from iron ore, coke and other inputs in the UK. The emrgency bill passed the House of Commons and the House of Lords on Saturday.
Members of parliament in the United Kingdom approved on Saturday plans to take emergency control of British Steel’s blast furnaces.
The decision to save the steel plant in the industrial town of Scunthorpe followed an emergency parliamentary session.
Keir Starmer’s government recalled lawmakers, who had been on Easter recess, to pass a law in the House of Commons which allows Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to direct the company’s board and workforce, ensure they get paid, and order the raw materials to keep the blast furnace running.
Would have been nice to do the same in Wales also but that’s not England so fuck em.
Tata were offered the same deal as Jingye. Tata accepted and so Port Talbot will reopen after modernisation. Jingye didn’t accept and look to be trying to sabotage the plant to stop losing money.
Different circumstances.
What I read elsewhere that made a lot more sense is the Chinese owners, Jingye, intended to turn off the furnaces in a way that it would effectively never be possible to use them again without incurring a lot of time and extraordinary cost.
In doing so Britain would have no choice but to purchase steel from China.
Therefore even if it’s going to be expensive for the government to maintain in the long term it will be a better deal for Britain than letting china monopolise an essential material.
Yes, that’s the sabotage I spoke of.
Forcing the import of Chinese steel wasn’t something I’d considered though.
It’s also worth noting that it wouldn’t just be china profiting financially. It would create a dependence on china for an essential material.
Given how rocky International relationships are at present we need to consider how we would manufacture weapons and vehicles should we find ourselves in a major conflict.
If Europe is at war with russia it’s unlikely china would willingly provide the steel we need.
I think they’d very happily sell to both sides of that conflict. I feel China would happily see Russia disappear up it’s own butt. They’re an annoying neighbour on all fronts.
I feel like if China wasn’t an active participant in a Europe / Russian war they would be more than happy to sell to whoever wants to buy. A prolonged war would significantly weaken both belligerent and strengthen China’s global position.