'Production issues' but no early closure at plant

British Steel said it was "discussing our decarbonisation plans with the government" amid fears of job losses

British Steel has denied that job losses at its Scunthorpe plant would come sooner than expected.

Reports from the national media suggested that 2,500 roles could be cut before Christmas. The site's blast furnaces are set to close in the coming months.

A British Steel spokesperson said no decision had been made regarding the date for the shutdown of the furnaces.

However, they did confirm that there had been "ongoing production issues" at the plant.

Reduced imports

The spokesperson added: "Imports of raw materials are continuing but have reduced in light of ongoing production issues. We are working to restore production levels from our ageing blast furnaces".

As part of a £1.25bn decarbonisation plan announced in November 2023, British Steel’s owners, Jingye, said it would close the plant's two blast furnaces and replace them with a greener electric arc furnace.

At the time, trade unions said the move would result in 2,000 redundancies in steel and ironmaking.

The BBC has contacted the GMB union for comment.

Around a quarter of the workforce in Scunthorpe is employed in manufacturing, including 4,000 at British Steel, according to North Lincolnshire Council.

Trade unions said in 2023 they were concerned over 2,000 jobs could be lost at the Scunthorpe plant

The council said its leader, Rob Waltham, would lead a small delegation to China to meet British Steel’s owners "in an attempt to protect the future of steelmaking in Scunthorpe".

A team of three representatives would travel to the Shijiazhuang province in September and would hold meetings with senior officers, civic leaders and directors of the company.

North Lincolnshire Council previously pledged to develop 300 acres at the site to create new employment opportunities in the green energy and engineering sectors.

Mr Waltham said: "Steelmaking is a vital industry, the backbone of our local economy and essential to our national security."

He added that he had asked the new government to offer their support to protect jobs.

He said: “Whatever the plans are going forward, we have to protect the sovereign capability for blast furnace steel and create a new future for steelmaking at the same time. Using taxpayers’ money to lose jobs is not acceptable."

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