Why has British Steel been nationalised?

Image source, Getty ImagesByJennifer Meierhans and Shanaz Musafer, Business reportersPublished11 April 2025Updated 1 hour agoBritish Steel has been taken into public ownership after years of uncertainty over the future of the steelworks.

It comes months after the UK government took control of the company's plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, though it was still owned by China's Jingye Group.

British Steel's Scunthorpe plant employs 2,700 people, about three-quarters of the company's workforce.

It is the last plant in the UK producing virgin steel, which is used in major construction projects like buildings and railways. It has fewer imperfections than the recycled steel made elsewhere in the country.

Were the plant to stop producing virgin steel, the UK would be the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it. The government views that as a risk to the UK's economic security.

In 2016, Tata Steel sold the loss-making part of its business that made "long products" like transport rails and steel sections for construction.

Private investment firm Greybull Capital bought it for £1 and renamed the business British Steel.

However, following financial collapse in 2019, British Steel was taken over by the government's insolvency service.

On 16 July this year, the UK government brought it into public ownership, and Jingye is now seeking compensation for nationalisation.

China's commerce ministry has hit out at the nationalisation, saying it "firmly opposes and is strongly dissatisfied with the British government's decision".

In late March 2025, Jingye said the plant was losing around £700,000 a day and launched a consultation on its closure.

It said the blast furnaces were "no longer financially sustainable," blaming "highly challenging" market conditions, tariffs and costs associated with moving to lower-carbon production techniques.