Essay by Eric Worrall
Another steel mill just entered administration.
Government takes over Liberty Steel’s South Yorkshire plants to protect 1,450 jobs
Court ends Sanjeev Gupta’s control of UK’s third-largest steelworks as ministers seek to save 1,450 jobs
The UK’s third-largest steelworks has been placed under government control, creating an uncertain future for nearly 1,500 workers in Rotherham and Sheffield.
Insolvency courts granted a compulsory winding up order sought by creditors owed hundreds of millions of pounds by Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) – part of the Liberty Steel metals empire of controversial tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.
The company, which uses scrap metal to manufacture steel, will now be placed in the hands of the official receiver – a government appointed liquidator – and special managers from consultancy firm Teneo.
The government has agreed to cover the ongoing wages and costs of the plant while a buyer is sought.
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/21/government-control-liberty-steel-south-yorkshire-sanjeev-gupta
This takeover of Specialty Steels UK follows the government takeover of British Steel in June;
Why did the government take control of British Steel?
17 June 2025
Jennifer Meierhans
Business reporter
Sean Seddon & Maia DaviesBritish Steel has secured a £500m deal to make train tracks for Network Rail.
It comes two months after the UK government took control of British Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, to prevent it from closing.
…
Who else produces steel in the UK?
There are 1,160 businesses in the UK steel industry, directly supporting 40,000 other firms, according to government figures.
Tata Steel at Port Talbot in Wales was once the UK’s largest virgin steel producer but it turned off its blast furnace in September 2024, saying it was losing £1.7m a day.
An agreement with the UK government was reached which saw it commit £500m to help the company move to greener forms of steelmaking.
Other steelmakers in the UK include Liberty Steel, Celsa, Marcegaglia and Outokumpu.
…
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y66y40kgpo
Why do I think this is net zero related?
British Steel backs calls for UK electricity price cuts
UK Steel today published a report on industrial electricity prices, demonstrating that a sizable gap remains between what UK steelmakers and their European competitors pay.
The trade body’s report also sets out three recommendations to bring electricity prices in line with European counterparts. As the steel industry is aiming to electrify through investment in new additional electric arc furnaces, electricity prices become even more crucial to the industry’s competitiveness, profitability, and future success.
Steel production is incredibly electro-intensive, and power charges are one of the largest barriers to sustainable steelmaking in the UK. With proposed steel industry switches to electric arc furnaces, it is expected the sector’s electricity consumption will roughly double.
The report finds that UK steel producers pay up to 50% more than competitors in France and Germany, adding £37-million to UK steel electricity costs. The price disparity is predominantly driven by higher UK wholesale costs and partly greater network charges.
…
Read more: https://britishsteel.co.uk/news/british-steel-backs-calls-for-uk-electricity-price-cuts/
The sad part of this is the steel mill which just went into administration is next door to 6.5 billion cubic ft of gas, a hundred miles away in Lancashire. Steel plants would have no problem running on cheap gas. But nobody is allowed to touch that Lancashire gas because accessing that gas would require hydraulic fracking.
Imagine having an entire collapsing industrial sector which could be saved by a hundred miles of pipeline and a few gas wells, but nobody is willing to act to make it happen. Because that is the reality in today’s Britain.
Related
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.