Crucial supplies to be delivered to British Steel plant TODAY
Crucial supplies needed to keep the UK's blast furnaces burning are set to be delivered to British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe today.After stepping in to take control of British Steel over the weekend, the Government faced a race against time to get materials such as coking coal and iron ore to the site.The raw materials are necessary to prevent the cooling of the blast furnaces, which would risk irreparable damage to the plant systems.Some of the supplies arrived at Immingham docks, North Lincolnshire, this morning before they were due to be unloaded and transported to nearby Scunthorpe.The Amstel Tiger ship, which travelled from New Orleans in Louisiana, US, was pictured docked in Immingham as a British Steel-emblazoned crane began to lift off coking coal.A third ship carrying crucial supplies, the Navios Algeria, was off the coast of West Africa on Monday before its scheduled arrival at Immingham on Thursday.The Department for Business and Trade said the materials were enough to keep the furnaces running for weeks and had been paid for out of its existing budget.It came as the Labour Government looked to avoid full nationalisation of British Steel after seizing control of the Scunthorpe plant from its Chinese owners Jingye. The Amstel Tiger ship, which travelled from New Orleans in Louisiana , US, was pictured docked in Immingham as a British Steel-emblazoned crane began to lift off coking coal The raw materials are necessary to prevent the cooling of the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, which would risk irreparable damage to the plant systems An aerial view of coal and coke mounds at the British Steel bulk terminal site at Immingham docksBusiness and trade minister Sarah Jones this morning said the Government's 'preference' is for a private sector partner to manage the Scunthorpe steel works.She told Sky News: 'All of these options are of course expensive, as we know.'If we'd have allowed the site to close, if we'd have allowed those people to lose their jobs, the cost of remediating the site, the cost of closing it, the cost would have been over a billion pounds.'So what we set out in the manifesto, because we knew that we wanted to make sure steel in this country had a future, what we set out in the manifesto was a £2.5billion fund for steel, which is what we will be using for our steel plan.'She added: 'That's why we're being really careful to do this correctly because we don't want to be spending taxpayers' money in a way that would be in any way wasteful, and that's why our preference is for a private sector partner to come in.'Ms Jones declined to rule out the possibility of another Chinese firm's involvement with British Steel.This is despite the row with Jingye over the Scunthorpe plant raising fresh fears about Chinese involvement in Britain's critical infrastructure. Ms Jones said: 'At the moment, I'm not going to say yes or no to anything that isn't at the moment on the table or being looked at.'Whatever the future for Scunthorpe, we want to make sure we can keep primary steel-making, we can keep steel-making in our country and we can grow that industry, not see the continued decline that we've had over recent years.' Business and trade minister Sarah Jones declined to rule out the possibility of another Chinese firm's involvement with British SteelThe Government passed emergency legislation designed to support the plant on Saturday after talks with Jingye broke down.The firm's plans to stop ordering new raw materials to keep the plant running and sell off supplies it already had prompted the Government into action, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said.China has accused the UK of 'politicising' trade co-operation, and suggested its companies could be put off investing in Britain if they were not treated 'fairly'.Downing Street said it had become 'clear' that the Chinese owners 'wanted to shut the blast furnaces' during talks.But No10 said it was not aware of any 'sabotage' at the plant, when asked if there were any concerns that officials from Jingye may have purposefully attempted to shut down the furnaces.British Steel has appointed interim executives as efforts continue to try and secure its future.Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, said: 'Giving another Chinese firm ownership of British Steel would be like coming home to find your house ransacked and then leaving your doors unlocked.'Domestic steel production is absolutely vital to our national security and to put that at risk again would be completely unacceptable.'The Government should rule out any Chinese firms' future involvement in the ownership of British Steel - and certainly until it has completed and published its China audit. The stakes are simply too high.'
