UK Government Moves Toward Nationalising Struggling Steel Firm SSUK

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the House of Commons that the government is working on a plan to acquire Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), the country's third-largest steelworks, which operates sites in Stocksbridge and Rotherham in South Yorkshire and in Wednesbury in the West Midlands.

The government first took control of SSUK, formerly part of Liberty Steel, last year after the High Court ordered the company into liquidation. A prospective buyer had come forward earlier this year, but ministers decided not to back the proposal due to serious concerns over how the deal would be financed and inadequate protections for UK taxpayers.

Production at the company has been on hold for several months, with roughly 1,300 employees placed on furlough at reduced pay. Reynolds explained that the government faced a choice: let the liquidation process run its course and risk losing any influence over the sites' future, or take direct action. Ministers chose to act, saying they would engage with the official receiver's sale process while developing a formal proposal for public acquisition of SSUK.

According to Reynolds, this approach preserves strategic control and creates time to properly assess all credible options before irreversible decisions are made. Any future decisions and spending would go through detailed due diligence and be funded from existing government budgets.

Reynolds said the process would allow consideration of future industrial uses, regeneration opportunities, and the role specialist manufacturing capabilities could play in supporting economic growth and national resilience. He told workers he would do everything possible to secure a positive future for them, their families and their communities.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham welcomed the announcement as a critical move, saying the government was listening to the union and acting to protect jobs, and urged it to proceed swiftly with nationalising the company.