The government has spent £377 million in nine months to keep privately owned British Steel’s Scunthorpe site operating, according to the National Audit Office. Spending is expected to reach £615 million by June and, if it continues at current rates, it could exceed £1.5 billion in 2028.
Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary of Community, the trade union that represents workers at the site, has rightly said that “the government made the right decision to invest”, saving jobs and steelmaking. But the cash at the moment is a loan to the Chinese company Jingye Group which owns British Steel with no set budget, repayment schedule or end date.
British Steel is named after the previous nationalised company that existed before the disaster of privatisation which has led to the loss of primary steelmaking at Port Talbot, for example. The government should nationalise the new company with compensation only on the basis of proven need, not for the profiteering bosses, and under workers’ democratic control and management, to safeguard jobs and steelmaking and ensuring that the millions are well spent and kept in government hands.
