NE Chamber of Commerce: British Steel going into liquidation is "devastating for North East and UK"

British Steel has fallen into liquidation putting 5,000 jobs at risk in the UK.

The move follows on from the news reported yesterday that the company had been in rescue talks with the government.

The government’s official receiver - part of its insolvency service - has taken control of British Steel during this process.

This also means that around 20,000 have been endangered in the supply chain. There are said to be 3,000 British Steel workers in Scunthorpe, with around 800 in the North East.

Accountancy firm EY will operate as special manager, assisting the government’s receiver. British Steel is to continue trading while EY finds a buyer for the company.

With the North East being affected in the wake of this company’s liquidation, James Ramsbotham, chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is devastating news both for the North East and the UK as a whole.

“Steel is a strategic industry and an integral part of the UK supply chain and ending our ability to produce steel leaves us at the mercy of overseas producers.

“The Teesside mills at Lackenby and Skinningrove are two facilities of national importance and everything possible should now be done to ensure a buyer for those profitable sites is found.

“Following the collapse of SSI the whole of the Tees Valley pulled together to ensure the closure did not become an economic catastrophe and the Chamber and business community stand ready to assist those affected both in British Steel and the supply chain.”

The other companies within the British Steel group are continuing to trade as normal and are reportedly not in insolvency.

Labour’s shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey, called for the company to be nationalised.

She concluded: “The government must act quickly to save this strategically important industry and the livelihoods and communities of those who work in it, by bringing British Steel into public ownership.”

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