Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is set for a showdown with the Chinese owners of British Steel after the government claimed they demanded hundreds of millions in taxpayer money for the steelworks at Scunthorpe.A search for a new buyer has stalled after Jingye asked for the cash to complete the transfer of the company.The government took control of British Steel in April, amid concerns that Jingye would close down the UK’s only remaining blast furnaces and put thousands of jobs at risk.Jingye remain the official owners of British Steel after the government stopped short of fully nationalising the loss-making company, which ministers believe is worth effectively zero.Negotiations have been taking place between officials, but BBC News understands Reynolds is likely to join the talks in September.A senior source in the Department for Business and Trade would not rule out handing over some public money to the Chinese firm, but said the two sides’ valuations of British Steel were still very different.The source stressed that while “there’s a public interest in protecting taxpayers’ money, there’s also a public interest in drawing this thing to a close”.A spokesperson for the business department said they “acted quickly to ensure the continued operation of the blast furnaces and are working with Jingye to determine the best long-term sustainable future for the site”.In April, MPs and peers were called back from their Easter holidays to pass legislation that allowed the government to take control of British Steel, during an extremely rare Saturday sitting of Parliament.Reynolds said at the time that full nationalisation was the likely next step, but ministers had been h …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBusiness Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is set for a showdown with the Chinese owners of British Steel after the government claimed they demanded hundreds of millions in taxpayer money for the steelworks at Scunthorpe.A search for a new buyer has stalled after Jingye asked for the cash to complete the transfer of the company.The government took control of British Steel in April, amid concerns that Jingye would close down the UK’s only remaining blast furnaces and put thousands of jobs at risk.Jingye remain the official owners of British Steel after the government stopped short of fully nationalising the loss-making company, which ministers believe is worth effectively zero.Negotiations have been taking place between officials, but BBC News understands Reynolds is likely to join the talks in September.A senior source in the Department for Business and Trade would not rule out handing over some public money to the Chinese firm, but said the two sides’ valuations of British Steel were still very different.The source stressed that while “there’s a public interest in protecting taxpayers’ money, there’s also a public interest in drawing this thing to a close”.A spokesperson for the business department said they “acted quickly to ensure the continued operation of the blast furnaces and are working with Jingye to determine the best long-term sustainable future for the site”.In April, MPs and peers were called back from their Easter holidays to pass legislation that allowed the government to take control of British Steel, during an extremely rare Saturday sitting of Parliament.Reynolds said at the time that full nationalisation was the likely next step, but ministers had been h …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
