Latest news with #BritishSteel
The Independent
12 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
China banned from investing in Sizewell C, energy secretary Ed Miliband vows
China will be blocked from investing in the new Sizewell C power station, the energy secretary has said. It comes as the chancellor announced plans to pump billions of pounds into Britain's nuclear energy sector, putting £14.2bn towards the new plant's construction. Asked whether China would be able to invest in the new power station, in Suffolk, Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'No'. But he declined to rule out investment from other foreign governments, saying: 'I'm not going to go into who the private bidders are. We've got a process at the moment. 'It's majority public investment in this, in Sizewell C. We're going to get some private investment in, but obviously, that always goes through national security checks. 'It's about making sure that any bidders… are people you would want owning part of your nuclear power station.' It comes amid growing concerns over the impact of Chinese influence on British infrastructure and supply chains. In April, government officials and British Steel staff found themselves scrambling to save its blast furnaces after what ministers believe was a plot to sabotage the Scunthorpe plant by its Chinese owners. MPs passed emergency legislation allowing the government to seize control of British Steel after Jingye, its Chinese owner, appeared to be gearing up to turn off the blast furnaces at the site. China was initially involved in the Sizewell C nuclear power station, but in 2022, the UK government forced Beijing out, spending £679m of taxpayer cash as part of an exit deal. The China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) was also an initial investor in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, on which Sizewell is modelled, giving it a 33.5 per cent stake. But it halted funding in 2023 amid mounting tension between London and Beijing, meaning its one-third stake has been receding in recent years. In 2016, CGN was charged by the US government with nuclear espionage, resulting in an employee being sentenced to two years in prison. The 17-page indictment accused the company and its employees of having unlawfully conspired to develop nuclear material in China without US approval and 'with the intent to secure an advantage to the People's Republic of China'. The multi-billion pound investment in Sizewell C will be confirmed by the chancellor at the GMB union's annual congress on Tuesday, just days before she is expected to make sweeping cuts to unprotected departments at Wednesday's spending review. The Suffolk plant, which ministers said would power the equivalent of six million homes, is expected to take around a decade to complete, with officials hoping it will be operational before the end of the 2030s. It is central to delivering a 'golden age of clean energy abundance', the energy secretary said, arguing it would boost Britain's energy security by reducing reliance on buying power from overseas.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
UK's timeline for US deal too ambitious, says ex-trade advisor Falconer
Trump's tariffs are already weighing on the UK's beleaguered steel industry, with some manufacturers saying American orders have dried up Bloomberg Prime Minister Keir Starmer would need President Donald Trump to be 'extraordinarily generous' to meet his ambition of finalising the UK-US tariff deal in two weeks, according to Britain's former top trade negotiator. Crawford Falconer, who led British trade negotiations until late last year, cast doubts on the UK government's efforts to settle remaining issues within a fortnight. While Starmer and Trump announced the so-called Economic Prosperity Deal to great fanfare in early May, numerous details have yet to be finalised. 'My assumption is that they're expecting the US to be extraordinarily generous and understanding toward them,' Falconer told Bloomberg News. 'Because otherwise I think it would take longer than two weeks.' That assessment will come as a blow to Starmer as he tries to seize on the UK's status as the first country to agree to a trade deal with Trump this year. On Tuesday, the White House ramped up the pressure, giving the UK five weeks to resolve outstanding issues or risk a doubling of US tariffs on British steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent. Trump's tariffs are already weighing on the UK's beleaguered steel industry, with some manufacturers saying American orders have dried up. Starmer dismissed concerns in Parliament on Wednesday, telling lawmakers he expected a resolution within a 'couple of weeks.' 'The deal we agreed is a good deal for UK steel producers,' the government said in a statement on Friday. 'We will continue to work with the US Commerce Department to implement our agreement as soon as possible so all UK steel producers can start to feel the full benefit.' Key to the deal is Trump's promise to remove all tariffs on British steel exports to the US. Although Trump spared the UK the 50 per cent rate imposed on steel from the rest of the world, he reserved the option to apply it if negotiations haven't concluded by July 9. Remaining hurdles include the Chinese ownership of British Steel, the struggling producer the UK government took over in April. There's also a question about whether the US will require British steel to have been melted and poured in the country. Tata Steel UK can no longer fulfill that provision. It closed down its last blast furnace in 2024 and a new electric arc furnace isn't yet up and running, so the company has been importing steel substrate from abroad. In a statement Friday, Tata Steel UK Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Nair said his company would need to import steel substrate until late 2027. 'It is therefore critical for our business that 'melted and poured in the UK' is not a requirement to access the steel quotas in any future trade deal,' Nair said. British Steel is facing a different set of problems. While the UK government took control of its plants earlier this year to prevent them closing, the company is still legally owned by China's Jingye Group. The general terms of the UK-US deal say the UK must meet 'US requirements' on the 'nature of ownership of relevant production facilities.' That is widely understood to mean that Trump would not grant preferential tariff rates to a company with connections to a strategic rival such as China. 'They will want clarity on what that means,' Falconer said. 'It's difficult for me to believe that the US will be confident that it would give the green light to Jingye, if it is uncertain about what the actual commercial arrangements are for British Steel going forward.' Finding a buyer for the loss-making manufacturer in the near-term seems unlikely. Meanwhile, fully nationalizing British Steel could bring its own problems, since the US generally tries to avoid giving state-owned entities preferential access to its market.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
UK Timeline for US Deal Is Too Ambitious, Ex-Trade Adviser Says
Prime Minister Keir Starmer would need President Donald Trump to be 'extraordinarily generous' to meet his ambition of finalizing the UK-US tariff deal in two weeks, according to Britain's former top trade negotiator. Crawford Falconer, who led British trade negotiations until late last year, cast doubts on the UK government's efforts to settle remaining issues within a fortnight. While Starmer and Trump announced the so-called Economic Prosperity Deal to great fanfare in early May, numerous details have yet to be finalized. 'My assumption is that they're expecting the US to be extraordinarily generous and understanding toward them,' Falconer told Bloomberg News. 'Because otherwise I think it would take longer than two weeks.' That assessment will come as a blow to Starmer as he tries to seize on the UK's status as the first country to agree to a trade deal with Trump this year. On Tuesday, the White House ramped up the pressure, giving the UK five weeks to resolve outstanding issues or risk a doubling of US tariffs on British steel and aluminum imports to 50%. Trump's tariffs are already weighing on the UK's beleaguered steel industry, with some manufacturers saying American orders have dried up. Starmer dismissed concerns in Parliament on Wednesday, telling lawmakers he expected a resolution within a 'couple of weeks.' 'The deal we agreed is a good deal for UK steel producers,' the government said in a statement on Friday. 'We will continue to work with the US Commerce Department to implement our agreement as soon as possible so all UK steel producers can start to feel the full benefit.' Key to the deal is Trump's promise to remove all tariffs on British steel exports to the US. Although Trump spared the UK the 50% rate imposed on steel from the rest of the world, he reserved the option to apply it if negotiations haven't concluded by July 9. Remaining hurdles include the Chinese ownership of British Steel, the struggling producer the UK government took over in April. There's also a question about whether the US will require British steel to have been melted and poured in the country. Tata Steel UK can no longer fulfill that provision. It closed down its last blast furnace in 2024 and a new electric arc furnace isn't yet up and running, so the company has been importing steel substrate from abroad. In a statement Friday, Tata Steel UK Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Nair said his company would need to import steel substrate until late 2027. 'It is therefore critical for our business that 'melted and poured in the UK' is not a requirement to access the steel quotas in any future trade deal,' Nair said. British Steel is facing a different set of problems. While the UK government took control of its plants earlier this year to prevent them closing, the company is still legally owned by China's Jingye Group. The general terms of the UK-US deal say the UK must meet 'US requirements' on the 'nature of ownership of relevant production facilities.' That is widely understood to mean that Trump would not grant preferential tariff rates to a company with connections to a strategic rival such as China. 'They will want clarity on what that means,' Falconer said. 'It's difficult for me to believe that the US will be confident that it would give the green light to Jingye, if it is uncertain about what the actual commercial arrangements are for British Steel going forward.' Finding a buyer for the loss-making manufacturer in the near-term seems unlikely. Meanwhile, fully nationalizing British Steel could bring its own problems, since the US generally tries to avoid giving state-owned entities preferential access to its market. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
CNA
4 days ago
- Business
- CNA
UK's steel industry struggles for survival despite tariff deal with US
LONDON: Two months ago, major steel producer British Steel nearly collapsed before it was taken over by the United Kingdom's government in a last-ditch effort to rescue the company. This came after the firm's Chinese owner Jingye Group announced that its two blast furnaces – the last of their kind in the UK – would close for good in the English industrial town of Scunthorpe, putting hundreds of jobs at risk. The government's move underscores the deepening strain on Britain's steel industry. It is grappling with global oversupply and uncertain trade conditions – particularly in its vital export market, the United States. America is the UK's second-largest steel export market, worth over 400 million pounds (US$540 million) a year. Despite the British government signing a trade deal with Washington last month that promised to bring tariffs down to zero, British steelmakers are still paying a 25 per cent levy on exports to the US. This rate will remain until at least Jul 9. The deal has temporarily spared the UK from the even steeper 50 per cent tariffs imposed on other nations, which kicked in on Wednesday (Jun 4). But industry players in Britain said they still face uncertainty. 'There is no end in sight of when those tariffs are going to be scrapped, because we still don't know the timetable, the criteria of getting that exemption, the hoops we need to jump through, and whether all steel producers in the UK will be exempt or not,' said Gareth Stace, director general of industry association UK Steel. PRODUCTION AT LOWEST LEVEL This uncertainty is particularly damaging for a sector already under huge strain. Many plants in England have not produced steel for nearly a year due to a lack of money to buy materials. UK steel production has fallen to its lowest level since the 1930s, prompting authorities to promise US$3.4 billion to help bridge the investment gap and turn the tide for the industry. However, additional billions of dollars in private funds are needed – a hard sell when the global trade regime has been changing radically from month to month. Meanwhile, cheaper steel from Asia, Europe and the US continues to flood the British market, where domestic producers now account for just 35 per cent of UK steel demand. Tom Evans, head of public affairs at UK's biggest steelmaker Tata Steel, told CNA that the overcapacity has become a perennial challenge for all stakeholders across the world. 'At the moment we've got an overcapacity of about 500 to 600 million tonnes … the UK makes around 6 to 7 million tonnes of steel a year. So we're a drop in the ocean in terms of global steelmaking,' he noted. 'But that kind of overcapacity means that the pricing (and) the trading conditions are really challenging for UK steel makers.' GOING GREEN Tata Steel has already shut down its blast furnace operations in the UK and ended production of virgin steel – the traditional method of turning iron ore into new metal. The company is now turning to electric arc furnaces, which melt down scrap steel to create new products using renewable electricity. That will help to meet government targets for a lower-carbon steel industry and construction company demand for 'greener steel'. 'We're quite fortunate in the UK (which) generates over 10 to 12 million tonnes of scrap a year. We want to keep some of that in the UK and remake that into steel,' Evans said. He added that the company needs 'a lot done in the next two years' to get its electric furnaces up and running. Electric arc furnaces can dramatically reduce the industry's carbon footprint. Recycling just one tonne of steel saves about 1.4 tonnes of iron ore and nearly a tonne of coal, according to British steel construction firm Elland Steel. The technology also allows producers to power their operations with wind, solar or other renewable sources. Like Tata, British Steel was offered hundreds of millions of dollars in government help to make the green transition, but its owner rejected the offer. The government's new ownership of British Steel has now reopened the possibility, though it is looking to find a buyer for the company in the long term. London is due to publish a 'steel strategy' in the coming months, recognising domestic production of steel as essential for economic independence and national security. But for now, the future of British Steel remains symbolic of the industry's broader challenge: Creating a viable, green and competitive steel industry while navigating a fast-changing world. 'What I want to see in the UK is a strong economy that needs a lot of steel - more steel than it needs at the moment – (and) that we are supplying the vast majority of that steel,' said UK Steel's Stace.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Over 200 apply for 30 British Steel apprenticeships in Scunthorpe
More than 200 people have applied for 30 apprenticeship roles at British Steel in Scunthorpe, the firm has company, which is also recruiting for 180 permanent roles, said it was looking to enrol its first apprentices in three comes after plans to make 2,700 workers redundant were scrapped in April after the government took control of the company from its Chinese owner, Bell, the company's interim chief executive, said the number of applications showed "a major vote of confidence in our business". "Our new apprentices will be our next generation of engineers and technical experts and support our journey to becoming a sustainable and profitable business at the heart of the UK economy," he application window for apprenticeships closes on Friday at 23.59 BST. British Steel said it was also recruiting 182 workers in a range of roles, including jobs in engineering, cleaning and workplace government passed an emergency law to take control of British Steel amid accusations that Jingye was planning to switch off two blast furnaces in closure of the furnaces would have left the UK without the capability to produce "virgin" steel, which is used in major construction projects such as new buildings and railways. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
