MPs didn’t manage to enjoy even a week of recess before being ordered back to Westminster. The Speaker announced this afternoon that both houses of parliament will be recalled on Saturday for a vote to nationalise British Steel after talks with the company’s Chinese owner appear to have hit a dead end. The UK government has spent much of this week in discussions with the Jingye group in a bid to prevent the closure of the company’s steel plant in Scunthorpe – which would put as many as 3,000 jobs at risk.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government had initially remained vague about the conversations taking place, with Whitehall insiders noting that ‘all options are on the table’. Now, however, Downing Street has confirmed that the recalling of both the Commons and the Lords tomorrow is for nationalisation. It appears that the government will attempt to pass legislation in a single day to nationalise the plant. Parliamentarians will sit from 11 a.m. tomorrow with both MPs and peers voting on the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill, which will allow the government to ‘direct steel companies in England’ and ‘preserve capability and ensure public safety’ at the site.
The Scunthorpe plant has been the subject of discussion for months. The possibility of nationalisation first came to light in December, but the situation has escalated this week thanks to Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs – which included a 25 per cent import tax on all steel entering the US. British Steel – which was bought out of receivership by Jingye in 2020 with the approval of then-prime minister Boris Johnson – has since warned that the raw materials required for the plant’s blast furnaces are running out and reports earlier in the week suggested that the government could offer to buy the coal needed for steel production as a step before nationalisation.
Current Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has been firm in her stance on the issue, insisting on Tuesday that renationalisation of the company should be a ‘last resort’. She has hit out at the ‘wrong choices’ Labour has made that have led to the current crisis. Other party leaders are more open to the idea of nationalisation, however, with Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey pledging his party’s support for ‘an outcome that delivers real change’. Reform’s Nigel Farage visited the Scunthorpe site this week and has since urged the government to ‘do the right thing tomorrow’ and ‘save this vital strategic asset’ by taking it back into public ownership. The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has, meanwhile, used the crisis to call on Labour to consider nationalising Scotland’s Grangemouth refinery to avoid hundreds of job losses.
It’s not common for MPs to be recalled from recess – it has only happened 34 times since 1948 with the last occasion being in August 2021 to allow MPs to debate the situation in Afghanistan. It’s also unusual for parliament to sit on a Saturday – the last time this happened was in 2022, to pay tribute to the late Queen. Parliament only broke up for Easter on Tuesday after a turbulent few months since Donald Trump’s return to the White House and politicians might have been hoping to enjoy some downtime. The fact they will spend their first weekend of recess back in Westminster proves this was very much wishful thinking.
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