British Steel's China Wakeup Call Goes Unheard

British Steel Ltd. is once again a ward of the state. Parliament was recalled to sit on a Saturday for the first time since Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, so that members could pass legislation enabling Keir Starmer’s Labour government to take control of the company from China’s Jingye Group. There are lessons in the rescue of this faded symbol of UK industrial might, but it’s unclear that the right ones are being learned.

Emergency action became necessary when Jingye, having rejected a £500 million ($640 million) support package from the British government, canceled orders for raw materials such as iron ore and coking coal and even started selling existing supplies. Blast furnaces can’t simply be turned on and off. If allowed to cool, the residual molten metal and other leftovers can cause irreparable damage. Time, then, was critical for UK officials, who are now trying to source materials to keep production going at British Steel’s two remaining blast furnaces in Scunthorpe — the last site in the country capable of making steel from basic raw ingredients.