British Steel can never fall into foreign ownership again: The Yorkshire Post says

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds accused Chinese firm and current British Steel owner Jingye of planning to “irrevocably and unilaterally” close down primary steelmaking in the UK and essentially force the country to become reliant on supply from China.

Mr Reynolds also said the Government had decided to take emergency action when it learnt Jingye had not only stopped ordering more raw materials, but begun selling off existing supplies. Jingye also reportedly rejected an offer of support in the region of £500 million, instead demanding more than twice that figure with few guarantees blast furnaces would stay open.

Mr Reynolds declined to accuse the Chinese state as being behind Jingye’s strategy but did agree that there is now a “high trust bar” to bringing Chinese investment into the UK, and said he would not have allowed a Chinese company to invest in the “sensitive” steel sector.

In a symbol of the tensions, British Steel workers called police on Jingye executives gathered at the plant on Saturday as they were concerned about “sabotage” and “industrial vandalism”.

British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant is vital in regard of the need to reliably supply the UK’s armed forces; an imperative that has grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world is also being changed economically by Donald Trump’s global tariff war impacting the likes of British car manufacturers

In an increasingly uncertain world, saving British Steel is a national security and economic priority that can’t be left to foreign companies or states, Chinese or otherwise.