UK workers union GMB called Monday on the government to secure a sales deal between British Steel and China's Jingye Group or else to nationalize the company.
"GMB is seeking assurances from Jingye they are commitment to sealing this deal and that their business plan is robust enough to withstand external pressures," GMB National Officer Ross Murdoch said in response to press reports suggesting that the proposed sale could be close to breaking down.
"The government must secure the deal and if it can't, take British Steel into public ownership. If the Conservatives let thousands of steel jobs go to the wall, it will prove their commitment to northern voters was yet more lies," Murdoch said.
A spokesman for Jingye said that, following the agreement signed on November 10 between the Chinese company and the relevant authorities, it continues to make progress in securing the necessary approvals to complete the transaction, adding that it is confident these will be achieved in the new year.
"Any suggestion to the contrary is completely incorrect," the spokesman said.
A spokesperson for the Official Receiver told Platts that "the parties have been working together since then to complete the deal as soon as practicable."
British Steel went into receivership in May.
The collapse of the sale would cause issues for the freshly elected UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, in one of the former Labour Party heartlands that switched to the Conservatives at last week's general election. Scunthorpe, where the main part of British Steel is located, returned its first Conservative MP since 1983.
Despite Jingye's deal to rescue the whole company, the French government last week advertised the sale of its Hayange French arm, separately from the UK operations.
According to sources, the French authorities decided to open a sale bid process in order to put pressure on the Chinese group to outline a solid industrial plan. The French authorities consider the mill to be a strategic state asset.
