The Chinese government has said that it is “strongly dissatisfied” with the UK’s decision this week to nationalise British Steel and will support Chinese companies in “safeguarding their rights through legal means”.
In April 2025, the UK government took emergency control of the largest remaining integrated steelmaking plant on British soil after its Chinese owners, Jingye Group, effectively decided to stop manufacturing at the Scunthorpe facility. The firm had been running down its existing raw material supplies and had not ordered enough to keep the two blast furnaces operating. While restarting the blast furnaces would have been technically possible in the event of a shutdown, it would be extremely expensive and could damage key plant systems.
Now that the plant has been fully nationalised, an independent valuer will be appointed to assess whether any compensation is payable. However, given that Jingye Group itself has admitted that the plant was losing £700,000 a day, it is possible...