Cost of taking over British Steel rises to £235m, government says
The cost of taking control of British Steel has risen to £235m, the UK government has said, as it acknowledged concern over the threat of EU tariffs that could significantly harm the business.The government passed emergency legislation in April to take control of British Steel amid fears that its Chinese owner, Jingye Steel, was planning to walk away from its Scunthorpe steelworks.The takeover preserved the jobs of 3,500 workers at British Steel but it has left the government footing the bill for the loss-making company.The industry minister, Chris McDonald, said the government had paid for “working capital, covering items such as raw materials, salaries, and addressing unpaid bills, including for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the supply chain”, in a written statement to parliament published this week.The latest costs add to the £604m spent on keeping the Scunthorpe plant going in 2019 and 2020, when it collapsed into insolvency under its previous owner, the private equity fund Greybull Capital.
Jingye bought it in early 2020.The government’s strategy has been to try to increase British Steel’s output in order to raise profitability, after Jingye claimed the Scunthorpe operation was losing £700,000 a day because of a global glut.The government’s official receiver is also temporarily in control of Liberty Steel after it collapsed into administration.Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, a national officer at GMB, a union representing workers, said: “This investment in our steel communities is exactly what taxpayers’ money should be used for.Under the previous government, £500m was given to Tata to make more than 2,000 people redundant.
The people of Port Talbot will not forget.“In contrast, British Steel has taken on more than 50 apprentices this year, supported a further 180 people into employment and has continued to produce world-beating steel.This is clearly money well spent.”However, the problems facing British Steel and the rest of the UK steel industry could be compounded if the EU carries out a threat to raise tariffs on steel imports to 50%.UK Steel, a lobby group, said it was an “existential threat” to the sector, because 78% of all steel exports from Britain went to the EU.
McDonald, himself a former steel executive, said the EU tariff threat “will be highly concerning for many of our steel producers and their workers”,Government ministers and officials have held talks with their EU counterparts in the hope of agreeing a quota for UK exports that would allow products to keep flowing,The EU tariffs were largely aimed at protecting its own producers from the global glut of steel that originated in China,Over the last three decades China has transformed from a minor player to the world’s largest producer, responsible for more than half of global output in 2024,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionA slowing home economy and a crisis in its property sector have hit demand, prompting Chinese steelmakers to look abroad to sell its products.
That has sent shock waves through global steel markets, causing crises across the developed world,The UK was also represented at a ministerial meeting this week on global excess capacity, which may eventually aim to combat Chinese dumping,However, that would probably require coordination between the EU and US, an unlikely prospect while Donald Trump is president,
No Ashes talk in England camp, says Harry Brook before New Zealand series
Harry Brook says there has been no Ashes talk in the England camp as they prepare for “a hell of a long winter”. The white-ball captain’s determination to “stay in the moment” is so strong that he has not even noticed the ramping-up of pre-series trash talk by David Warner and Stuart Broad.England arrived here on Wednesday after the three-day bonding break in Queenstown for their six-match series against New Zealand, which concludes in Wellington on 1 November.Three members of the Ashes squad were named in the lineup for Saturday’s first T20 with another in Zak Crawley not selected and a fifth, Gus Atkinson, joining the group on Thursday as a non-playing member while he works on his fitness with the first Test in Perth a little over a month away.T20 international series (all 7
Ricky Hatton is thought to have killed himself, inquest told
Ricky Hatton, the former world champion boxer who died in September, is believed to have killed himself, according to a provisional cause of death given at the opening of his inquest at Stockport coroner’s court.Hatton, 46, was found dead in his home on 14 September. News of his death caused an outpouring of grief across the world and thousands of people lined the streets for his funeral.His body was found in his home in Hyde after police received a call from a concerned neighbour, later revealed to have been his manager, Paul Speak, who alongside Hatton’s son and brother, was a pallbearer at his funeral.The former world champion had been open about his struggles with clinical depression and substance abuse, saying on one occasion that he “was coming off the rails” with his drink and drug use, describing himself previously as being “like a runaway train”
Essendon held their nerve and their man Zach Merrett – but to what end? | Jonathan Horn
After a few days of trade period, a fortnight of Trade Radio, 11 months of trade speculation, and a few thousand variations of the phrase “it’s an interesting one”, I’d reached the point where I genuinely believed that I was about to be traded to Essendon. My internal monologue thrummed with trade-speak – the hedging, padding, euphemistic language that’s used to buy time and fill space. Even when walking the dog or purchasing a hammer, I was exercising my options, in good dialogue and monitoring the situation.For a few years, trade period was like that old Del Amriti song Nothing Ever Happens. But this year there were captains, club champions, Coleman and Norm Smith medallists up for grabs
Sumo stars balance power, intricacy and spectacle at London showcase
An enraptured crowd soaked up the atmosphere at the first official sumo tournament held outside Japan in 34 yearsAt 6pm exactly, the first, and only, professional sumo dohyo anywhere outside Japan was finally ready. It had taken four days to build. The clay, shipped up from Kettering, where, the experts said, the earth had just the right consistency, had been shaped, sculpted, pounded into a stage, the six-tonne wooden canopy had been joined, and hung from the roof, the rice-straw bales had been beaten into shape with empty beer bottles, brought over especially for the purpose, and laid in a circle around the ring, the arena had been blessed by three priests, doused with sake, and strewn with salt.Outside, an eager crowd was gathering underneath the streaming banners. There were corporate sorts, charging their bar bills to company expenses, a troop of diplomats, going to glad hand the Japanese ambassador at a VIP reception, and an awful lot of sumo super fans, some of them big men with beards, who first fell in love with the sport when it was on Channel 4 in the early 90s, some of them slight young women head-to-toe in Comme des Garçons, some middle-aged salarymen holding banners decorated with pictures of their favourite rikishi
Could Trump really move World Cup games? The facts behind his threats
Which time? Tuesday was the second time Trump has threatened to take away World Cup games from US host cities on the basis of their political leadership or opposition to his policies. However, it’s important to note that this suggestion of moving games is not something Trump has suggested organically, of his own volition. In both cases, the US president was responding to leading questions centered around the idea of moving games. On 25 September in an Oval Office event, a member of the White House press corps asked Trump about cities that have demonstrated against Trump’s use of federal agencies for immigration and crime crackdowns. The reporter mentioned Seattle and San Francisco as two cities that have seen demonstrations, and pointed out that both cities are World Cup hosts (though San Francisco is not a host city, but part of the San Francisco Bay Area that will host games at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara)
Rain saves England at Women’s World Cup and ruins Pakistan hopes of historic win
Pakistan came agonisingly close to their first one-day international win against England in Colombo on Wednesday, reaching 34 without loss in pursuit of a DLS-adjusted target of 113 before torrential downpours curtailed their hopes of making history.England’s batting has lurched from one disaster to another during this World Cup – they had to be bailed out by Heather Knight against Bangladesh and by Nat Sciver-Brunt against Sri Lanka – and here it looked like their frailties would return to haunt them, as they collapsed to 79 for seven in the opening 25 overs.After an initial rain delay of almost four hours, England returned to add 54 further runs – but Pakistan’s openers Muneeba Ali and Omaima Sohail looked to be making short work of the chase, assisted by the absence of England’s key strike bowlers Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone through illness. Only further rain saved England’s blushes.“Pakistan bowled brilliantly and made it really hard for us to get into the game at all,” the England captain, Sciver-Brunt, told Sky Sports
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