British Steel became state property on 16 July 2026. The Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Act received Royal Assent on 15 July, and regulations signed that day by Industry Minister Chris McDonald moved the company into public hands with immediate effect.
“British Steel now belongs to the British people,” Business Secretary Peter Kyle said, adding that he had taken the decision to nationalise “to secure steelmaking capability and maintain production in the national interest.” Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the company “part of the fabric of our nation.”
How it got here
The government first stepped in at the Scunthorpe plant in April 2025, to keep the blast furnaces running and avoid a disorderly closure. Ministers then spent more than a year looking for a lasting answer. According to the Department for Business and Trade, talks with the former owner, China’s Jingye, produced no deal that would secure the company’s future and also give taxpayers value. City AM reported that the earlier negotiations over funding for the site’s green transition had collapsed, leaving the Chinese owner all but ready to walk away.
Parliament supplied the missing power. The new legislation lets ministers take over a steelmaker judged vital to the country, provided it passes a public interest test. The business department said that test was met on Thursday.
What happens next
An independent valuer must now be appointed to decide whether Jingye is owed any compensation. Regulations for the compensation scheme are expected in autumn.
A new leadership team, made up of newly appointed non-executive directors, will run the business. Its first jobs are to steady operations on site, manage health and safety, keep production going, and work with unions and staff on a plan for a commercially sustainable, low-carbon company. Interim chief executive Allan Bell called it “a momentous day” and “an historic day for Britain and UK manufacturing.”
The government says ownership will protect thousands of jobs at the steelmaker and in its supply chain. Steel supported around 33,000 direct jobs in 2025, with a further 36,000 across supply chains. Ministers also left the door open to private investment later, saying public ownership gives them a base from which to explore options for the company’s long-term future.
Unions welcomed the move. Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of Community, thanked the government for passing the law. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs of the GMB said ministers had “saved the UK steel industry”, though she warned that “the hard work to keep it alive starts here” and pressed for public infrastructure projects to buy British steel.
The takeover sits alongside a wider package. In March the government published its first Steel Strategy, backed by up to £2.5bn of investment, and it has cut tariff-free steel import quotas by 51%.
Sources
- Government nationalises British Steel
- Government brings British Steel into public ownership to protect UK steelmaking – GOV.UK
