Labour has been urged to lay out a plan for the future of British Steel, as the government spending watchdog warned of the “startling” costs of keeping the manufacturer in business with no end in sight.
The public accounts committee of MPs said on Friday that ministers were still “unable to articulate what business model” would put the company on a sustainable footing, nearly a year and a half after taking control at Scunthorpe.
Clive Betts, the committee’s deputy chair, said the move to save the company was “all well and good”, but added: “This was just the beginning.
The criticism came days after Labour also nationalised Britain’s third-biggest producer of the metal, the Yorkshire-based Speciality Steel UK, in an attempt to protect 1,300 jobs.
4 sentences from our version of the report,
chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below.
How
Headline check
Headline as published: Find a credible plan for British Steel, ministers told as ‘startling’ costs soar
All two things this headline claims are in the report.
Figures, names and quoted words in the headline, looked for in the report itself — not in the summary above. How this is checked
The article, shortened and in plain language
Government spending watchdog warns of price of keeping publicly owned firm in business.
Labour has been urged to lay out a plan for the future of British Steel, as the government spending watchdog warned of the “startling” costs of keeping the manufacturer in business with no end in sight.
British Steel was taken into public ownership in July to protect “the future of steel production”, 15 months after the government stepped in to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs.
By mid-June, the government had spent £555m paying workers’ salaries and buying raw materials, excluding the cost of external advisers.
The public accounts committee of MPs said on Friday that ministers were still “unable to articulate what business model” would put the company on a sustainable footing, nearly a year and a half after taking control at Scunthorpe.
After nationalising British Steel, the government appointed new executives to focus on stabilising the business.
Clive Betts, the committee’s deputy chair, said the move to save the company was “all well and good”, but added: “This was just the beginning. Having brought British Steel onto the taxpayers’ books, it is now up to government to explain its plan for its future.”
The criticism came days after Labour also nationalised Britain’s third-biggest producer of the metal, the Yorkshire-based Speciality Steel UK, in an attempt to protect 1,300 jobs.
Shortened to 1 minute
of reading, this version reads 4.7 on the Niral Score.
You are reading our version, not theirs.
This is The Guardian Australia (Business)'s report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with
verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives
that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations
are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure
this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.
How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it
No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.
Readers can ask a question about this story here.
Questions and answers are for subscribers.
Sign in
to read them.
Comments are read before they appear where anything in them needs a person to look.
Nothing posted here is ever deleted; a comment taken down keeps its text and the reason,
so the decision can be looked at again. How this works
