Protesters call for British Steel to be nationalised with 25,000 jobs at risk as it emerges owners r

DEVASTATED steel workers have called on the government to nationalise British Steel and save 25,000 jobs as it emereged the firm's owners raked in millions after buying it for £1.

Yesterday, British Steel announced it has gone into liquidation after the government refused to lend £30million just a few weeks after handing out a separate £120million loan.

Greybull Capital bought the stricken firm for £1 in 2016 and has since earned £9millon in management fees over three years.

It also charged an estimated £50million in accrued loan interest, although that has not yet been paid.

More than 4,000 people are employed at the company's Scunthorpe plant alone and workers have warned its closure will turn the town into a "ghost town".

Protesters lined the entrance to the steelworks this morning urging ministers to step in and nationalise the crisis industry.

British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, Charlotte Childs, a former steelworker and a regional official for the GMB union, said: "I don't think it can be understated - the impact that this is going to have on the town and community - if we don't find a solution to this imminently."

Scunthorpe, N. Lincs, has a population of 80,000 and would see unemployment rates soar to around 10 per cent overnight if the steelworks closes.

Around 700 jobs are also at risk on Teesside, as well as another 20,000 involved in the supply chain across the country.

WARNINGS FROM TOWN ABANDONED BY STEEL

Teesside was previously hit in 2015 when SSI closed the Redcar steelworks with the loss of around 2,000 jobs.

Locals today said the closure has had a "devastating" impact on the seaside town over the last three-and-a-half years and urged the government to save Scunthorpe from the same fate.

Phil Stapley, a former British Steel employee, told the Scunthorpe Telegraph: "You’ve only got to walk down the high street to see how it has changed.

"It’s all charity shops and budget shops. I shouldn’t imagine many jobs will be coming back to Redcar."

Bernadette Collins, who lost her job at a steelworks canteen, added: "There aren’t many full-time jobs in Redcar now, everyone is taking two part-time jobs to get by.

"No other jobs ever came in to replace the ones that were lost."

Redcar MP Anna Turley said lessons needed to be learnt from the closure of the plant.

She said: "He (Greg Clark) spoke very movingly today about the importance of keeping the asset going. That is the absolute number one priority.

"We cannot turn this off because of the consequences for individuals, for families, for communities and local economies."

The UK steel industry provided work for more than 300,000 people in 1971 but now employs less than a tenth of that. State-backed Chinese firms have been accused of flooding the market with cheap steel and pricing out international competition.

The closure of the Redcar steelworks left the UK with just two active blast furnaces - in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot, South Wales.

Greg Clark, the business secretary, is understood to believe it would be possible to nationalise the company but it would need to be done without falling foul of EU state aid rules.

He told the House of Commons: "The government has worked tirelessly with British Steel, its owner Greybull Capital, and lenders to explore all potential options to secure a solution for British Steel.

"We have shown our willingness to act, having already provided the company with a £120 million bridging facility to enable it to meet its emissions trading compliance costs.

"The government can only act within the law, which requires any financial support to a steel company to be on a commercial basis. I have been advised that it would be unlawful to provide a guarantee or loan on the terms of any proposals that the company or any other party has made."

Yesterday, he claimed it would have been "illegal" to prop up the company with another loan because of current restrictions.

The turbulent history of British Steel

BRITISH Steel announced it had gone into receivership after failing to secure funds for its future.

So how did Britain's second largest steel producer get to this point?

In 1967, British Steel Corporation was formed from the UK's 14 main steel producing companies after an Iron and Steel Act brought about 90 per cent of the industry into public ownership.

Throughout the 1970s, the industry was then promised £3,000 million from the Government - turning the small scale works into a competitive plant.

Steelmaking was concentrated into five areas, South Wales (pictured), Sheffield, Scunthopre, Teesside and Scotland.

However, BSC was plagued with losses.

The 1980s then saw a huge reduction in BSC's workforce - falling from 268,500 to 130,000 - and a 13 week national steel strike.

However, by the end of the decade, the company was posting pre-tax profits.

In 1987, it was announced that BSC would be privatised.

Into the 1990s, demand for steel dropped and it wasn't until 1993 that the company again started to post profits.

In 1999, the company merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus.

It was then in 2007 that Corus was bought by India's Tata Steel.

Barely a decade later in 2016, Tata Steel was bought by Greybull Capital for a nominal one pound.

Greybull, which has specialised in trying to turn around struggling businesses, renamed the business British Steel.

most read in news

A Greybull spokesman said it would only recover its funds from the business once the government loan had been repaid.

The company, set up by French brothers Nathaniel Meyohas, 46, and Marc Meyohas, 43, has been accused of "vulture" capitalism after buying into a number of troubled businesses.

The self-styled turnaround specialist's other failures include Monarch Airlines, My Local convenience stores, and Riley's snooker halls, which all went bust.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqecsKtfbn50go9wbGiaop7Bqr%2FHZqqtnZWheqS7y6WYqauVYr2zu9Oeqq2doqh6pK3LpWSnmaSevK%2Bty6KqmqyZpLtw