Reynolds explained that The British government's efforts to retake control of British Steel are a consequence of the attitude of the company's owner, Chinese Jingye group. He explained that Keira Starmer's cabinet offered Chinese government aid of over $650 million in exchange for withdrawing from the decision to shut down 2 large furnaces in a steel mill in Scunthorpe, north of England, the last in Britain to melt iron ore steel.
According to the British Minister's report, Jingye's management did not accept this proposal. The Chinese group argued the request to extinguish furnaces with the ineffectiveness of their continued operation, inter alia, due to the advanced cost of compliance with environmental regulations as well as duties.
Jonathan Reynolds critically about erstwhile governments. “They proved naive”
In an interview with SkyNews Reynolds, he estimated that allowing Chinese companies to engage in the steel sector the erstwhile UK governments had shown “naïveness”. He stressed that large companies, like Jingye Group, have direct links with the Communist organization of China.
— We request to be clear about which sectors we can advance and in which sectors we can cooperate and in which, frankly, we cannot. Personally, I would not bring a Chinese company into our steel sector. I think steel is simply a very delicate industry. said the Minister of Commerce. Reynolds besides stated that he sees another sectors, specified as automotive or agricultural products as little delicate to Chinese investments.
The British government sold British Steel to Jingye in 2020 after the British company became insolvent. On Saturday, at an extraordinary sitting, both chambers of parliament supported Starmer's proposal to take control of British Steel by the state. The British government does not regulation out the nationalization of this company in order to prevent a steelworks in Scunthorpe from closing.
