British Steel halts redundancy plans after executive rescue

British Steel says it is going to finish a session on as much as 2,700 redundancies with out motion, after the federal government took keep watch over of the company previous this month.

In March, the Chinese corporate Jingye, which purchased British Steel in 2020, proposed to near Scunthorpe’s two blast furnaces. It introduced a session that it mentioned may impact between 2,000 and 2,700 jobs.

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom executive used emergency powers to take keep watch over of British Steel and proceed manufacturing on the website.

British Steel showed it had formally withdrawn HR1 session paperwork submitted via the corporate, bringing the redundancy procedure to an finish.

On Tuesday, Lisa Coulson,the meantime leader industrial officer at British Steel, mentioned: “This has been a difficult and worrying time for British Steel staff and their families. I can, however, confirm that we are closing the redundancy consultation without action. Since the government passed its legislation on Saturday, we have been working day and night to ensure we are able to stabilise our operations.

“The work done to secure the raw materials we need for both Queen Anne and Queen Bess blast furnaces means we are able to run both continuously.”

The trade minister, Sarah Jones, mentioned: “The action this government took on April 12, and the measures we’ve taken since, matter greatly for this country, and are of huge importance to thousands of steelworkers and their families. We will always stand up for our steel industry.

“Now, thanks to our decisive action to protect steelmaking at Scunthorpe, British Steel has cancelled the redundancy consultations started by its owners Jingye, bringing certainty for thousands of hard-working staff for the long term.”

The Unite union mentioned: “Unite are pleased that British Steel have come to their senses and realised that job losses are not the way to ensure Britain remains an industrial power.

“This should be just the first step to begin the process of nationalisation. The government now needs to implement a wholesale overhaul of its energy policy with a commitment to invest in renewables to lower energy prices for heavy industry like steel production.”

Alun Davies, the nationwide secretary for metal on the Community Union, mentioned: “We welcome these positive developments, which follow constructive discussions between steel unions, the Labour government and British Steel management.

“We look forward to continuing these productive relationships going forward. Through this collective effort, backed up by the commitment and resolve of the workforce, Scunthorpe steelmaking was saved from a disastrous cliff edge.

“We will now continue to work tirelessly to ensure the business gets the bright future it needs and deserves.”