Business secretary appears to row back on Chinese firms in steel sector claim

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds appears to have rowed back on his claim that he would not bring a Chinese company into the steel sector again.

Mr Reynolds said he would look at Chinese firms "in a different way" following the race to save British Steel, but did not rule out their involvement completely. The government has taken over British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, the last in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, after talks with its Chinese owners Jingye broke down.

Politics latest: US 'working very hard' on negotiating 'great' UK trade deal The company recently cancelled orders for supplies of the raw materials needed to keep the blast furnaces running, sparking a race against time to keep it operational. Materials secured by the government arrived at the site on Tuesday, but questions remain about the long-term future of British Steel and whether it will be fully nationalised or the private sector will get involved.

Earlier on Tuesday, industry minister Sarah Jones said she is "not ruling out" the possibility of another Chinese partner. She said having a pragmatic relationship with Beijing, the world's second biggest economy, is still important and stringent tests would apply "to a Chinese company as they would to any other company".

The comments were at odds with Mr Reynolds's previous remarks to Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, when he said he would not "personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector" again, describing steel as a "sensitive area" in the UK. Asked for clarity during a visit to the port of Immingham, where materials from two ships are being unloaded and transported to the plant, Mr Reynolds said: "I think we've got to recognise that steel is a sensitive sector.

"A lot of the issues in the global economy with steel come from production and dumping of steel products... so I think you would look at a Chinese firm in a different way.

"But I'm really keen to stress the action we've taken here was to step in because it was one specific company that I thought wasn't acting in the UK's national interest, and we had to take the action we did." Explainer: Why has the government rescued British Steel? The materials that arrived on Tuesday, including coking coal and iron, are enough to keep the furnaces running for weeks, the Department for Business and Trade said. They are needed because if the furnaces cool down too much, the molten iron solidifies and blocks the furnaces, making it extremely difficult and expensive to restart them.

'Chinese ownership truly dreadful' Opposition politicians have accused China of sabotage to increase reliance on its steel products, and want the country to be prevented from future dealings not only with steel but any UK national infrastructure. Veteran Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the government needs to define which industries are "strategic" - and prevent China from being allowed to invest in such sectors.

Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said reverting to Chinese ownership would be like finding "your house ransacked and then leaving your doors unlocked". Reform UK leader Nigel Farage took the same position, saying the thought the government "could even contemplate another Chinese owner of British steel is truly dreadful.