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A remarkable step by the government - and Trump, China and Reform UK have all played their part
When the sun sets on Scunthorpe this Saturday, the town's steelworks will likely have a new boss - Jonathan Reynolds.
The law that parliament will almost certainly approve this weekend hands the business secretary the powers to direct staff at British Steel, order raw materials and, crucially, keep the blast furnaces at the plant open. This is not full nationalisation.
But it is an extraordinary step. The Chinese firm Jingye will - on paper - remain the owner of British Steel.
But the UK state will insert itself into the corporate set-up to legally override the wishes of the multinational company. A form of martial law invoked and applied to private enterprise.
That will come at a cost to the taxpayer. Follow latest: Live politics updates No number has been specified, but there are wages to pay and orders to make at a site estimated to already be losing £700,000 a day.
There is also clear frustration in government at how the Chinese owners have engaged in negotiations around modernising the Scunthorpe site. "Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
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