Oli Constable
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, Reuters

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with steel workers and trade union members at a village hall near Scunthorpe to talk about the importance of steelmaking in the country.

He said he wants to make sure steel is available for generations to come and that he knows the value of their work. Amongst the community, there was a feeling of anticipation of what today would bring.

Earlier, a demonstration organised by steel workers and trade unionists rallied outside Scunthorpe United's football ground - the home of 'The Irons', which shows how ingrained steelmaking is in this town.

Lots of people rely on the Scunthorpe plant, not just the workers but other businesses that are connected to it.

People are cautiously optimistic about today's bill going through, and that this is a very positive step for the safety of their jobs.

Government says they are acting decisively, others disagreepublished at 15:57 British Summer Time 12 April

15:57 BST 12 April

Joe Pike
Politics Investigations Correspondent

Government sources say that at a meeting of top cabinet ministers yesterday they realised they didn’t have any other choice but to intervene.

They had been working with Jingye – the Chinese owner of British Steel - and had offered £500m of financial support to help the company's transition to greener steel-making processes. That had been rejected by the Chinese firm who wanted £1bn.

What the government realised - and some would argue they realised quite late - was that the orders for raw materials needed to keep the blast furnaces going were not being made. That would leave the plant in a pretty perilous position.

Keir Starmer could have requested a recall of MPs on Sunday or Monday. The prime minister's decision to move even faster and get the law passed by Saturday evening gives you an idea of the urgency.

There has been disagreement, however, as to how we got here. The government is saying they are acting decisively. The Conservatives argue Labour mismanaged the situation and allowed it to turn into a crisis.

Jennifer McKiernan
Political reporter

The bill on British Steel is now mid-way through the debating stage in the House of Lords.

All the necessary stages in the House of Commons were completed by around 14:00 BST this afternoon, and peers have just spent about 40 minutes making their initial comments on it.

In the Lords, arguments closely matched those made by MPs.

Conservative Lord Davies of Gower has attacked the government, claiming that "if they had acted sooner, if they had negotiated better, then this entire debacle could have been avoided".

He defended Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch against claims she failed to negotiate a deal to modernise steel production. He says planning permission was given in April last year for an electric arc furnace at its Scunthorpe plant, and another in Teesside - "representing 1.25bn in investment in modernising steel production".

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, the government's business minister in the Lords, said the Conservatives were not appreciating the urgency of the situation, pointing out that the "blast furnaces were in danger of failing within days".

She added Badenoch met UK steel companies only three times during her time as business secretary, and steel output had fallen an "eyewatering" 42% during the Conservatives' 14 years in power.

The Lords have taken a break, and will resume their consideration of the bill shortly at 4pm.

A little earlier, hundreds of people - including steelworkers and their families - marched to protest the possible closure of British Steel's Scunthorpe plant.

They rallied at Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park stadium, which has publicly backed the campaign to save the works.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Oli Constable
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, PA Media

In a village hall near the steel works, the prime minister shakes the hands of workers who have gathered.

It’s a buoyant mood here. There’s excitement and relief at what their future now looks like.

Keir Starmer’s message to them is clear. Control. It’s control over the site and decisions that are made beyond the entrance gates, and that means the blast furnaces will stay on, he says.

“A future for steel matters to you, your families, the next generation,” he tells them.

“I hope there’s some relief,” he adds.

Some of the people here are steel workers, but also there are representatives from trade unions.

One member thanks him and added “the unions are united as one”.

Image source, PA Media

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met British Steel workers near Scunthorpe shortly after the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Bill passed the House of Commons unopposed.

Starmer told steelworkers: "You are the people who have kept this going."

He adds that for years they have been "the backbone of British Steel, and it's really important that we recognise that".

He says it was important for him to see the steelworkers "face to face to have that discussion with you".

"It's your jobs, your lives, your communities, your families," he adds.

One steelworker told Starmer: "We're not there yet, we've still got a lot of hard work to do."

The Bill on British Steel has received its second reading, which is a debate on the general principles of the bill.

The Lords has been adjourned for an hour to allow time for peers to put forward amendments.

UK Steel, the trade association for the UK steel industry, says a solution is "time-critical".

“A blast furnace is a dynamic piece of machinery. If the fires go out, it is nigh on impossible for it to be brought back to life," it says in a statement.

"It is vital that the blast furnaces remain operational during negotiations, providing some security and breathing space in the short term, and this legislation will ensure this can happen," it adds.

UK Steel says it encourages the government to work "at pace" on a long-term solution for the site, which it says is critical in supporting thousands of jobs, national security, the UK economy and its communities.

Jack Fenwick
Political reporter

Humberside Police have said that officers attended the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe this morning following a suspected breach of the peace.

Officials from Jingye, the Chinese owners of the company, have been on-site regularly in recent days, and it’s thought that relations between them and the workers have become increasingly tense.

One government source said that the Jingye officials had been behaving erratically in recent days.

Sources have told BBC News that when officials from Jingye arrived at the plant this morning, the automatic number plate recognition scanners didn’t allow them through the site barriers.

It’s understood that Humberside Police were called shortly after.

They say that officers conducted checks and spoke to individuals but that there were no concerns raised and no arrests were made.

Securing future of a steelworks making financial losses will cost taxpayerpublished at 14:35 British Summer Time 12 April

14:35 BST 12 April

Danny Aeberhard
Europe regional editor, BBC World Service

The problems facing steel making in Britain include cheap imports, high energy costs, US tariffs, and the need for massive investment.

Britain's Labour government wants to protect jobs. But it also argues that saving the Scunthorpe plant - the last in the UK that can produce steel from scratch - is vital on security grounds.

Like many countries, there's an acute awareness of the need for a sovereign industrial policy, to protect supply chains, at a time of geopolitical tensions and threats to global trade.

High quality steel is needed in sectors including defence and construction. But keeping a loss-making plant operating - and potentially nationalising it - will come at a large cost to the taxpayer.

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Kevin Shoesmith
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, BBC/Kevin Shoesmith

Some more now from one of the steelworkers attending the march in Scunthorpe. Nick Adams, 28, tells me he is heartened by the turn out. He is attending the match to Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park stadium.

He started working in Scunthorpe steelworks’ rod mill in September 2022. In August 2026 he is due to get married.

“My partner and I also have a mortgage to pay for,” he says. “It’s a huge worry for us both. If the works close, I’ll end up having to commute out of the town.”

Nick tells me of the likely impact on the town should the works close.

“It won’t just be felt by those directly employed by British Steel,” he says. “It’ll impact the butchers, the cafes, even the football club.”

Kevin Shoesmith
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, BBC/Kevin Shoesmith

Several hundred people, including steelworkers and their families, are now on the march.

They’re planning to rally at Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park stadium, which has publicly backed the campaign to save the works.

The crowd is repeatedly chanting “we want our steel back” and “we want British Steel”, as passing motorists toot their horns.

As he walks, Thomas Smith, branch secretary for the Community Union, tells me: “Today is very important.”He seems pleased with rhetoric emerging from Westminster.

“Thank you for supporting us at our time of need,” he says.

After a little over three hours of debate, the special bill brought in to help keep the British Steel plan in Scunthorpe open has cleared all its Commons stages.

It will now move on to the Lords for another round of debate.

Image source, Reuters

British Steel was founded in 2016 when Tata Steel sold its loss-making long products division in Scunthorpe to private investment firm Greybull Capital for a token £1.

The new owners renamed the business British Steel. Following a period of financial instability, British Steel was taken over by the government's insolvency service in 2019 and then acquired by Chinese steel-making firm Jingye the following year.

British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, employs 2,700 people, about three-quarters of the company's entire workforce.

It is the last plant in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, which is used in major construction projects like new buildings and railways.

Two huge blast furnaces are used to produce the steel, which has fewer imperfections than the recycled steel made elsewhere in the country.

• Read more: Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns it?

Kevin Shoesmith
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, BBC/Kevin Shoesmith

British Steel worker Rob Barroclough, 37, is with his two young sons. He tells me his wife, back home with their daughter, is expecting their fourth child in May.

His boys are carrying a placard stating: "Our town, our jobs, our futures."

“We are one steel family,” explains Rob. “Our family, like many others, is built around the steelworks. Who knows my boys might end up working there one day, if it can be saved.”

Rob tells of the strain of the past few weeks.

“There have been a lot of very emotional, dark nights,” he says.

“We’re hoping for the best but planning for the worst.”

Image source, UK Parliament

Back in the Commons, Green MP Ellie Chowns says steel is integral to the "green industrial transformation" - including making wind turbines, trains and tracks.

The UK could and should be producing more steel, Chowns tells the Commons, and says that public ownership is the best solution in this case.

"Nationalisation would give the UK the control it needs for the renewal of the steel industry," Chowns says.

Kevin Shoesmith
Reporting from Scunthorpe

Image source, BBC/Kevin Shoesmith

I’ve just spoken to a fifth generation steelworker, Kieran, 30, outside The Berkeley pub in Scunthorpe, where people are gathering ahead of a march calling for the steel plant to stay open.

He tells me: “I’ve worked at the steelworks since I left school. I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.

“I had to come down here. We need to show the country how much our steelworks mean to us.”

Jennifer McKiernan
Political reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader, says his party should "never" have sold the Scunthorpe steel plant to a Chinese company.

Duncan Smith has been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party and has been one of the loudest voices warning of the security threat posed by China for several years.

Labelling the sale to Jingye a "mistake" by his colleagues, he railed against treating the company as an independent entity, rather than an arm of the Chinese government, and highlighted how Chinese overproduction of steel is "a desperate problem for us".

"It's no surprise that a Chinese company, Jingye, is involved in this because in pushing to close down the plant in Scunthorpe they know we will have to buy slab steel from them," he said.

He was backed by another Conservative MP, Sir Edward Leigh, who has long been warning that China is the UK's biggest threat.

Sir Edward said: "Colleagues, we must never again allow a strategic asset like this to fall into the hands of the Chinese or Russians."

Jack Fenwick
Political reporter

Image source, Reuters

Let’s delve a bit deeper into why the government thinks the steel plant at Scunthorpe is so crucial for national security.

The two remaining blast furnaces there – named after English Queens ‘Anne’ and ‘Bess’ – are the last ones in the UK capable of making virgin steel - which is made from iron ore rather than recycled steel.

In an unstable world, ministers believe it’s crucial that the country maintains the ability to make its own steel.

After that, it really comes down to two of the Prime Minister’s biggest priorities in office.

The first is defence. We know the government wants to spend more in this area – and the steel made in Scunthorpe is crucial for defence manufacturing.

The second is economic growth. Keir Starmer wants to boost the nation’s finances by investing in big infrastructure projects. Again, the steel needed for those projects is largely made in Scunthorpe.

In the Prime Minister’s own words, all of this "means we need more steel, not less”. And that’s a big reason why the government has chosen to act today.