The government’s Bill “ to nationalise steel” was designed as a Labour MP crowd pleaser. It always came with the strange lawyerly caveat that it only applied if in the public interest. It now emerges that it thinks nationalisation is not currently in the public interest, so it is a Bill designed to disappoint all those left wing ideologues who want state ownership.
I assume this means the government is desperately trying to get a deal with the Chinese owners. This was always going to be difficult after the UK government unilaterally took over managing someone else’s business. The Chinese would be understandably cross about this, and would see it as an opportunity to demand compensation. It was a stupid thing for the UK to do, possibly leading to the Chinese firm walking away from its responsibilities to the workforce and from the potential redundancy costs. Both the Chinese and the government thought the future was to close the blast furnaces and put in an electric arc plant with far fewer people. Their disagreement was merely over when to close the existing blast furnaces. After this failed negotiation the UK government then implied to the employees it wants to keep the blast furnaces open, but presumably only for a bit whilst they get someone to put in an electric arc plant instead as in South Wales.
This looks like another unholy government mess. The employees probably end up sacked. The blast furnaces probably will be shut down by this government. The Chinese will probably be given a load of taxpayer money to help pay their debts and losses. The taxpayer will definitely be sent huge bills. Maybe in the end they will claim it is at last fully nationalised. Then there will be a hunt to find a private sector partner to help manage to works and to put in a new electric arc investment.
This massive expensive state intervention looks set to fail. The powers in the Bill are wide ranging and apply both to taking over the shares in the company, and the property. They do include provision for compensation with an independent valuer.