Reynolds refuses to say if steel furnaces can keep running

The business secretary has refused to confirm if the government can get the sufficient raw material supplies in time to keep the blast furnaces at British Steel running, after it took control of the Chinese-owned plant.

Emergency legislation was rushed through Parliament on Saturday to prevent owners Jingye shutting down its two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

Asked if he could guarantee the furnaces would remain open, Jonathan Reynolds said he would not comment "on the commercial aspect of supply" but the takeover gave the "opportunity" to obtain the coal needed.

The government said Jingye had been selling off raw materials, as well as not ordering more, before officials took control.

Reynolds said the government intervened after "it became clear" that Jingye was intent on closing down the blast furnaces, no matter what financial support it received from the government.

The company rejected an offer of support in the region of £500 million, the government said, instead demanding more than twice that figure with few guarantees the blast furnaces would stay open.

In the Commons on Saturday, Reynolds said Jingye had not been negotiating "in good faith", while on Sunday he suggested it had not been acting "rationally".

Jingye had put the UK's ability to produced virgin steel at risk, Reynolds told the programme - adding "it might not be sabotage, it might be neglect".

British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe is the last plant in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, which has fewer imperfections and is used in major construction projects like new buildings and railways.

Were the plant to cease production, the UK would become the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it - a prospect the government views as a risk to the country's long-term economic security.

Asked about whether the 2019 sale to Jingye was a mistake by the Boris Johnson government, Griffith said the Conservatives had approved "the only deal on the table" - and with support from unions and local MPs.

Since then the "world has changed" and China has become a less reliable partner, he argued.