British Steel has been the heartbeat of Scunthorpe for 160 years, creating employment for the local communities.
But now its blast furnaces are set to be replaced with two electric arc versions which can run on zero-carbon electricity, and are used to recycle steel scrap into new steel.
However, this puts 2,000 jobs at risk as they require a lot fewer workers to keep them going and could also leave the UK without the ability to produce its own virgin steel.
Now, ministers are pushing for reassurances if the Government is to finance the Chinese-owned company.
Holly Mumby-Croft, Conservative MP for Scunthorpe, told GB News: “If we’re going to give hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer money to British Steel, we have to ensure that we protect steel jobs and that we retain a blast furnance steel making capability in Scunthorpe.
“We can’t do anything without steel as a nation, nobody can.
British Steel is set to close furnaces and replace them with eco-options
GB News
Please write at least 2 paragraphs
“You need steel for everything you do, from the moment you get out of bed on a morning to going to bed at night, whether its defence, growth, building projects, steel is everywhere throughout our lives.”
If thousands of jobs are lost at the plant in Scunthorpe, this will have a huge knock-on effect to the local economy, which relies on trade from the steel workers.
Businesses like Beck Bakery, who sell the majority of their food to staff from the plant.
Jane Neasham, Staff Member at Beck Bakery, said: “Most of our trade is from the workers, either the British Steel workers or the contractors that work on British Steel, I would say 90% of it is.
“How’s it going to affect us? How’s it going to affect the business? The poor people that are losing their jobs again right near Christmas, that’s who I feel sorry for as much as anything.”
Marion Towse is the owner of Beck Bakery and she questioned whether the ‘green’ proposals for the plant should be at the expense of the local economy.
She told GB News: “You’ve got to pay your bills, you’ve got to get your customers in. I mean I know they’re saying it’s going to be good for the environment, aren’t they with the electric, but it’s just not good for people’s employment here.”
People here have faced years of uncertainty around the steelworks. They're used to cuts.
But this feels different; the blast furnaces are the steelworks.
One man in Scunthorpe, who worked at British Steel for more than 30 years told GB News: “We make the best steel in the world.
“We always have done – tyre cord, rail. It’s a steel industry, I don’t know how you can go green with the steel industry.”
Another man added to this and said: “It will be a sad position. Scunthorpe, it’ll be like a museum, it’ll be no good at all.
Speaking to GB News, a woman added: “It’s very difficult, particularly at this time of year, losing jobs, it’s hard. It’s another pile of rubbish on top of what we’ve got in the country at the moment.”
Another woman was critical of the proposed plans and said: “They can spend millions on these people coming from abroad, putting them up in hotels, which cost us, the taxpayer, millions doesn’t it, and yet they can’t save our own people for their own jobs.
“British Steel has been here donkey’s years, you know, now we’re down to the last steelworks here, and that’ll be the end of it then.”
Yet, others disagree, and feel that Scunthorpe can still thrive as a town without the blast furnaces.
“It’s inevitable, the steelworks has got to move forward in its progress, and that’s unfortunately, sadly for jobs, that’s what’s happening,” one man told GB News.
Another added: “I’ve worked in a lot of other industries that have never had a penny out of the government, and this town’s had a lot of money out of the government, a lot of taxpayers’ money, so I’m a bit ambivalent about it.”
In response to the plans, British Steel said: “We are committed to manufacturing the home-made, low-embedded carbon steel the UK needs.
“Electrification could rapidly accelerate our journey to net zero and would also ensure we can provide our customers with the steel they require."
The Chinese owned company, along with North Lincolnshire Council have also announced plans for an advanced manufacturing park on part of the steelworks site, which could create thousands of 'green' jobs, such as in hydrogen.
Cllr Rob Waltham, North Lincolnshire Council Leader, said: “It seems a little bit callous to think that you’ll try and redesign new jobs at the same time as other people going to have to change theirs, but we’ve got to have a solid future for kids in this area to want to stay in this area.
“We want better paid jobs, high engineering jobs, you know that sort of stuff, and that’s what we want for the future for local people.”
British Steel’s proposals will be reviewed by an external specialist on behalf of trade unions.
If plans go ahead, the blast furnaces will remain operational until electric arc furnace installation from late 2025.