MPs warn Labour has no credible plan for British Steel after spending £600m of public money on Scunthorpe

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has declared that the government cannot explain how British Steel will ever become profitable, despite burning through more than £600m of public funds. The nationalised Scunthorpe plant — home to Britain's last blast furnaces — is still costing taxpayers £1.3m a day with no end date in sight. The PAC's 26-page report, published Friday, warns that without a credible long-term plan, "uncertainty and costs for workers, industry and taxpayers will continue to increase." Alan Lovell has recently been appointed as chair in a bid to turn the struggling company around.

British Steel is 'unable to wash its own face', the committee said, yet the government admitted it cannot even estimate the final bill to the public purse.

The PAC warned Labour's new steel tariff regime, designed to boost British production, risks driving smaller firms out of business or pushing them to manufacture abroad.

MPs also flagged that 4,052 British Steel workers face deep uncertainty, with the government's own steel strategy still vague about when its 50% British-made target would be hit.