Police called to British Steel plant after Scunthorpe workers prevent Chinese executives entering premises
12 April 2025, 15:20 | Updated: 12 April 2025, 15:27
Workers in Scunthorpe have prevented Chinese executives from entering the British Steel plant - as MPs gathered in the Commons on Saturday for a crunch vote on its future.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Workers at the British Steel Scunthorpe are reported to have prevented executives from Jingye, the firm that owns the plant, from gaining access to key areas of the plant.
Police were called to the scene and forced the executives to leave according to reports first emerging in The Times.
Workers mounted what's been described as a “heroic” move to block their way to offices.
The group are thought to have raised concerns that the delegation was attempting to force the closure of Britain’s last remaining “virgin steelworks”.
Humberside police forced the delegation “into a hasty retreat”, according to sources at the scene.
It comes as Labour MP and Industry Minister, Jonathan Reynolds, told the Commons that the British Steel owners wanted "hundreds of millions of pounds" from the British Government to keep the plant running.
Such funds could have been transferred back to China, minister Johnathan Reynolds has claimed.
Humberside Police said: “Officers were in attendance at British Steel in Scunthorpe at 8.30am this morning following a suspected breach of the peace.
"Upon attending, conducting checks and speaking to individuals in the area, there were no concerns raised and no arrests were made.”
Speaking on Saturday, Labour MP Sarah Jones told LBC the firm had "not acted in good faith".
It comes as Nigel Farage told LBC the Government should nationalise British Steel.
He labelled the Saturday recall the government "being dramatic".
"It's a sticking plaster. If Jingye, the Chinese owners, are bad faith actors, which I've believed them to be for five years - and even today, the Business Secretary said they aren't acting in good faith - they should have just gone the whole hog today, nationalised it, and sold it on."
