China-Owned British Steel Seeks Government Bailout

[FatticusInch]

…or 4,000 jobs are at risk.

https://news.sky.com/story/british-steels-chinese-owner-seeks-huge-government-aid-package-12708894

Looks like Rees-Mogg will have his mind taken off fracking on the day the Tory conference starts.

[dave50]

Seeing as steel making is one of biggest energy using industries then I would have thought looking for plentiful cheap energy supplies such as fracking would be a priority. I doubt steel makers in China have to worry about subsidising the ridiculous dash for net zero.

[mushroom25]

for every tonne of steel, blast furnaces release up to 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide. globally, steel making accounts for 8% of all carbon emissions. at this time, steel making without using coal is only at the experimental stage and won't be ready for industry to meet its net zero target by 2050.

nah, if the honourable member for the 18th century refuses the bailout, his government will do its green credentials a huge favour. :-)

[dave50]

Yes mushroom and sod the 4000 job losses.

[Bazile]

Will the honourable member have nerves of steel ?

[Gromit]

dave50
Fracking isn’t cheap, it is very expensive.
No one wants to frack in the UK.
Most of the US fracking operators went bust.

[dave50]

We should be mining our own coall for our steel plants or of course we can shut them down and import Chinese steel from the other side of the world where they don't give a flying fig about climate change.

[Gromit]

dave50

British coal became uneconomic after 150 years of intensive mining. What remains is difficult to extract and therefore expensive. The last mine closed 7 years ago.

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe a nationalisation candidate ?

Probably the sort of industry that should be in the nation's control anyway. Pity money's tight at the moment; gov needs to do the sums.

[Gromit]

Nationalisation is a very bad idea. Thatcher privatised it because it haemorrhaged money and was a huge liability on the nation.

[Old_Geezer]

And then relied on foreign concerns to supply a vital product. A strategy that the recent Russian/Ukrainian war has shown to be flawed. Sometimes looking for the cheaper option should not be the priority as it can leave the nation vulnerable.