Tata Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, which is now part of British Steel
The future of British Steel is in the balance, putting up to 25,000 jobs at risk.
The owners of the UK's second-biggest steel maker have been lobbying the Government for £75m in financial support to help them to address “Brexit-related issues” affecting the business.
The Independent says union leaders held “crunch talks” with the Business Secretary Greg Clark yesterday. If Clark declines to recommend a rescue deal, the company could enter administration “within 48 hours” .
In response to a question in the House of Commons on Tuesday, the government declined to clarify what support may or may not be on offer.
“We cannot comment on details at this stage,” business minister Andrew Stephenson told MPs, adding that the government would “continue to do whatever is within our power to support the steel sector”.
Last September, British Steel cut almost 10% of its workforce, blaming the weakening in the pound caused by Brexit.
Then, last month, the company borrowed £100m from the government to enable it to pay an EU carbon bill, so it could avoid a steep fine. The Daily Telegraph says: “Questions have been asked why British Steel was rescued just three weeks ago when officials must have known the depth of its troubles.”
Other problems include a slump in orders from European customers due to uncertainty over the Brexit process, and the escalating trade US-China trade war sending prices soaring for the raw commodities needed to make steel, which are traded in dollars.
The Guardian’s Nils Pratley invites readers to “choose your villain” in the crisis. He argues that: “the Government has dithered for years about the future of steelmaking,” and adds that the “unresolved Brexit pantomime in Westminster” hasn’t helped.
He also points out that “the company’s private equity owner, Greybull Capital” has a string of “past calamities” including the collapse of Monarch Airlines and electricals chain Comet.
The crisis has drawn attention to the wider state of the UK steel industry. Sky News points out the surprising fact that “in the past two years (to be precise, the past 22 months) China has manufactured more steel than Britain has since the height of the Industrial Revolution in 1870”.
from Featured Articles http://bit.ly/2WZoD27
via Latest News in UK
No comments:
Post a Comment