The UK Government has saved the troubled British Steel Company.
It will mean a steel mill in Scunthorpe will be saved after negotiations with its Chinese owners reportedly broke down.
The bill gives the UK Business Secretary the control of the company and the right to use police powers if necessary to ensure workers are paid.
UK Correspondent Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner says the raw materials to keep the mill running have been paid for.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with ins and Eye Insurance, Peace of mind
for New Zealand business.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We need to get with now though one love of
my friend, how are you morning?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Good morning to you mate.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So the Parliament got together on Saturday and they passed
the emergent legislation and they're going to save the steel.
Do they save it? Do they know how they can
get the coal and all the stuff they need to
keep it going? Can they promise to keep it going?
Or we don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Well, it looks like they've got the raw materials or
according to Angela Ray that they've got the raw materials,
which will mean that the that the foundry that bas
furthest doesn't have to shut down and if it shuts down,
it's gold for good. But you're right. Yeah. They were
convened on Saturday morning, the first time since COVID that
that a special session was called. And at first they
(00:48):
were very snarky indeed about the Chinese company which opened
still owns them move which owns the steel works in
Scunsaled which are our last two last furnuces from making
Virgins steel, and the company is called jingle Way. They
said they couldn't afford to keep the place runing they
(01:09):
couldn't get the raw materials through, they were going to
close it down. The labor government stepped in and interestedly said,
you know, this is to preserve jobs and to preserve
the community, and there's two thousand of jobs there, twenty
seven hundred in fact. But they also said this is
a national security issue, and it was that which got
(01:31):
them into the House of Commons and through very easily
because it is a national security.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Issue, right, So several questions come out of this. There
was a suggestion the owners the Chinese are selling stuff off.
Are they still doing that? Have they been prevented? Can
you prevent them from doing all of that?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It looks like they have been prevented so far, but
I don't know what will happen further down the line. Mean,
while the Chinese government has warned the UK not to
mix politics with trade, which is of course exactly what
has happened, and it's kind of changed the mood here,
and the mood has been changing over the last two
or three months, undoubtedly, like everything else, influenced by Donald Trump,
(02:12):
that the trade and national security are not necessarily divisible.
There is no longer the kind of dewy eyed feeling
about globalization that it's perfectly okay to let the Chinese
run our last glass furnace, and this perfectly okay to
let the Chinese run out nuclear industry, both of which
(02:35):
we were reasonably held points of view during the middle
of the last decade. But that's gone now. I don't
think that would happen again now there's been there's been
a seed change.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So in terms of percentages, what is this really about.
I mean, if this was run by an Australian company,
are they still doing the same thing they're doing at
the moment and saving those jobs or is this all
about China?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
SimK, it's largely about China, I think more latterly, certainly
today and yesterday, the Labor government has been rather more
a circumspect and it's comments about China saying that there
are more companies in China than just Geeway. You know,
we shouldn't tar all of the economy with the same brush.
But I think that was nonetheless behind the call to
(03:23):
have that meeting on Saturday, because frankly, when my local
steel works closed with a lot of fifteen thousand jobs,
no one turned a hair. There was no demand for
nationalization or anything like that. It was just then that
was a labor government, you know, that was back in
two thousand and six, two thousand and seven. No one
(03:45):
cared and ever since then conservative governments have refused to
bail out the steel industry. There was a bailout last
year for Port Talbot, but that's largely because it was
a kind of green initiative to get them making post
carbon steel. But no, this is this is the first
time and it's got it's actually galvanized the Labor Party
(04:08):
a bit.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I was going to say, not only organized Labor party,
how apolitical is it when they drag them all to
the Parliament on Saturday or the Tories behind it or not.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Most of the tours are kind of There are a
few who are saying, how much is this going to cost?
Why didn't you do it before? You know, all that
kind of stuff, and why were why were they allowed
to own this company in the first place, which is
a perfect good question to ask. But it is that
there isn't great opposition to it in this country at all.
(04:38):
Even the Daily Telegraph it's asked a few questions about
what the cost is going to be, and does nationalization work. Well,
it kind of works if you're if you're put up
against it like this, and I think that's what most
people in the country are thinking at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You might listen, go well, we'll see you Thursday. Run
a little out of Britain. Just a couple of other
things in Britain, just to keep you up to speed here.
As I'm mentioned earlier on in the program, that bin
strike continues in Birmingham. I was going to say they've
brought in the military. That's a bit dramatic that there's
a couple of people who sit behind a desk somewhere
who would loosely call themselves employed by the military. They're
(05:13):
more planners, that's all they brought in. The latest stuff
has been rejected, so Birmingham continues to go to Helen
a handcart. Speaking of the Chinese, there's a Liberal Democrat
MP called We're a Hobhouse. Interesting name. Anyway, she went
with her husband to see some family. She got turned
around at the border, so that's caused a little bit
of consternation. Her husband got let in, but she got
(05:35):
turned around, stuck on a plane. Meantime, Tulip Sadik, who
is a British MP. Bangladeshi authorities have issued an arrest
warrant the Double C. They're investigating allegations that she illegally
received land as part of a wider probe into the
regime of her aunt. Her aunt was the former leader
(05:59):
Prime Minister of Bangladesh and so that's interesting. And then
we come to the number of migrants, and that's a
disaster as well because the number of migrants arriving by
boat across the Channel Tunnel, not the Channel Tunnel, the
English Channel six hundred and fifty six and eleven small boats.
That was just Saturday, six hundred and fifty six people,
eleven boats, just on this past Saturday. So the total
(06:20):
of the year to date eight thousand and sixty four,
once again a record high. The previous record high was
last month. So it's getting worse. For more from the
Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks i'd be
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
International Correspondence with ins and Eye Insurance, Peace of mind
for New Zealand business.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We need to get with now though one love of
my friend, how are you morning?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Good morning to you mate.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
So the Parliament got together on Saturday and they passed
the emergent legislation and they're going to save the steel.
Do they save it? Do they know how they can
get the coal and all the stuff they need to
keep it going? Can they promise to keep it going?
Or we don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Well, it looks like they've got the raw materials or
according to Angela Ray that they've got the raw materials,
which will mean that the that the foundry that bas
furthest doesn't have to shut down and if it shuts down,
it's gold for good. But you're right. Yeah. They were
convened on Saturday morning, the first time since COVID that
that a special session was called. And at first they
(00:48):
were very snarky indeed about the Chinese company which opened
still owns them move which owns the steel works in
Scunsaled which are our last two last furnuces from making
Virgins steel, and the company is called jingle Way. They
said they couldn't afford to keep the place runing they
(01:09):
couldn't get the raw materials through, they were going to
close it down. The labor government stepped in and interestedly said,
you know, this is to preserve jobs and to preserve
the community, and there's two thousand of jobs there, twenty
seven hundred in fact. But they also said this is
a national security issue, and it was that which got
(01:31):
them into the House of Commons and through very easily
because it is a national security.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Issue, right, So several questions come out of this. There
was a suggestion the owners the Chinese are selling stuff off.
Are they still doing that? Have they been prevented? Can
you prevent them from doing all of that?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It looks like they have been prevented so far, but
I don't know what will happen further down the line. Mean,
while the Chinese government has warned the UK not to
mix politics with trade, which is of course exactly what
has happened, and it's kind of changed the mood here,
and the mood has been changing over the last two
or three months, undoubtedly, like everything else, influenced by Donald Trump,
(02:12):
that the trade and national security are not necessarily divisible.
There is no longer the kind of dewy eyed feeling
about globalization that it's perfectly okay to let the Chinese
run our last glass furnace, and this perfectly okay to
let the Chinese run out nuclear industry, both of which
(02:35):
we were reasonably held points of view during the middle
of the last decade. But that's gone now. I don't
think that would happen again now there's been there's been
a seed change.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So in terms of percentages, what is this really about.
I mean, if this was run by an Australian company,
are they still doing the same thing they're doing at
the moment and saving those jobs or is this all
about China?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
SimK, it's largely about China, I think more latterly, certainly
today and yesterday, the Labor government has been rather more
a circumspect and it's comments about China saying that there
are more companies in China than just Geeway. You know,
we shouldn't tar all of the economy with the same brush.
But I think that was nonetheless behind the call to
(03:23):
have that meeting on Saturday, because frankly, when my local
steel works closed with a lot of fifteen thousand jobs,
no one turned a hair. There was no demand for
nationalization or anything like that. It was just then that
was a labor government, you know, that was back in
two thousand and six, two thousand and seven. No one
(03:45):
cared and ever since then conservative governments have refused to
bail out the steel industry. There was a bailout last
year for Port Talbot, but that's largely because it was
a kind of green initiative to get them making post
carbon steel. But no, this is this is the first
time and it's got it's actually galvanized the Labor Party
(04:08):
a bit.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I was going to say, not only organized Labor party,
how apolitical is it when they drag them all to
the Parliament on Saturday or the Tories behind it or not.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Most of the tours are kind of There are a
few who are saying, how much is this going to cost?
Why didn't you do it before? You know, all that
kind of stuff, and why were why were they allowed
to own this company in the first place, which is
a perfect good question to ask. But it is that
there isn't great opposition to it in this country at all.
(04:38):
Even the Daily Telegraph it's asked a few questions about
what the cost is going to be, and does nationalization work. Well,
it kind of works if you're if you're put up
against it like this, and I think that's what most
people in the country are thinking at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
You might listen, go well, we'll see you Thursday. Run
a little out of Britain. Just a couple of other
things in Britain, just to keep you up to speed here.
As I'm mentioned earlier on in the program, that bin
strike continues in Birmingham. I was going to say they've
brought in the military. That's a bit dramatic that there's
a couple of people who sit behind a desk somewhere
who would loosely call themselves employed by the military. They're
(05:13):
more planners, that's all they brought in. The latest stuff
has been rejected, so Birmingham continues to go to Helen
a handcart. Speaking of the Chinese, there's a Liberal Democrat
MP called We're a Hobhouse. Interesting name. Anyway, she went
with her husband to see some family. She got turned
around at the border, so that's caused a little bit
of consternation. Her husband got let in, but she got
(05:35):
turned around, stuck on a plane. Meantime, Tulip Sadik, who
is a British MP. Bangladeshi authorities have issued an arrest
warrant the Double C. They're investigating allegations that she illegally
received land as part of a wider probe into the
regime of her aunt. Her aunt was the former leader
(05:59):
Prime Minister of Bangladesh and so that's interesting. And then
we come to the number of migrants, and that's a
disaster as well because the number of migrants arriving by
boat across the Channel Tunnel, not the Channel Tunnel, the
English Channel six hundred and fifty six and eleven small boats.
That was just Saturday, six hundred and fifty six people,
eleven boats, just on this past Saturday. So the total
(06:20):
of the year to date eight thousand and sixty four,
once again a record high. The previous record high was
last month. So it's getting worse. For more from the
Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks i'd be
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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