British Steel: raw materials to keep blast furnaces online to arrive in UK today

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will visit the Scunthorpe site today, to coincide with the arrival of the raw materials.

He said: “We will always act in the interest of working people and UK industry.

“Thanks to the work of those at British Steel, and in my department, we have moved decisively to secure the raw materials we need to help save British Steel.

“Our industries depend on UK steel and – thanks to our plan for change – demand is set to shoot up: helping build the 1.5 million homes, railways, schools and hospitals we need.”

The payment is understood to come from the existing Department for Business and Trade budget.

This comes after the Government recalled Parliament to pass a law giving the Business Secretary the power to direct staff at British Steel to keep the blast furnaces lit.

Mr Reynolds said that he had been prompted into action after learning that the Chinese owner, Jingye, had stopped ordering coking coal and iron ore pellets that are needed to keep the plant running.

The Government also raised concerns that the firm had planned on selling off supplies it already had.

As such, British Steel has been in a race against time to avert a shutdown, and materials such as the coal and iron ore are necessary to prevent the cooling of the blast furnaces, which would risk irreparable damage to the plant systems.

There had been concern that the UK could become the only G7 nation without the ability to produce virgin steel.

On a visit yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said: “We’ve got the raw materials they’ve been paid for, and we’re confident that the furnaces will continue to fire.

There are two ships carrying materials docked at Immingham port, which are set to be unloaded today, while a third is en route off the coast of Africa.

The third boat’s cargo had been the subject of a legal dispute between British Steel and Jingye, however this has now been resolved.

Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community trade union, said he was confident that the technical expertise available at the plant could keep the blast furnaces alive while more raw materials are sourced.

The furnaces could be “banked”, he said, keeping them at a “safe temperature to keep the stoves warm” for the immediate term.

In the longer term, one of the furnaces could be drained of its molten metal and effectively turned off, through a process called a “salamander tap”.

This would “create more raw material resources to keep the other furnace going”, Mr Rickhuss said, preserving it until around mid-May.

“That should be more than enough time to get the raw materials in,” he added.

Meanwhile, China has accused the UK of “politicising” trade co-operation, and suggested its companies could be put off investing in Britain if they were not treated “fairly”.

At a weekly press conference in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said: “We hope the British government treats Chinese enterprises investing and operating in the UK fairly and justly, protects their legitimate rights and interests, and avoids politicising and over-securitising economic and trade co-operation, so as not to affect the confidence of Chinese enterprises in investing and co-operating in the UK.”