The United Kingdom took control of the British steel before evaluating taxpayers’ costs, according to letters

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The United Kingdom government decided to seize the control of the British steel before it had evaluated the costs for taxpayers, asking questions about the final price of saving the last two explosive ovens in the country.

Jonathan Reynolds, business secretary, issued a “ministerial direction” to annul the concerns of his own officials to maintain Steelmaker’s combat operations in his main place in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, lyrics Posted on the Government website.

Ministers intervened in early April by passing emergency legislation to take control of the British steelemploying about 3,500 people in the United Kingdom, including 2,700 in Scunthorpe.

Reynolds responded to Gareth Davies, a permanent secretary for businessof trade, after the The official warned the Minister on April 12 that he could not guarantee that the spending of taxpayers’ money in the steel rescue would fulfill his responsibilities.

Davies said that the Government had been forced to act at such a speed that it did not have time to gather “necessary tests” to ensure that spending was in line with the four Government tests.

Government expenditure tests require that the cost of the intervention is compared to alternative proposals or to “do nothing” to verify that it represents “money value”.

The tests also require that there is a sufficient legal basis for measures and complies with high standards of public conduct and, in addition to being feasible, so that the movement can be implemented “with precision, sustainable and with the planned calendar”.

Ministerial directions, which are rare in British policy, are formal instructions that tell the departments that they follow a expense proposal despite the objections of a permanent secretary, the largest official of the ministry.

This is the first direction this year, after two in 2023 and two in 2024 throughout the Whitehall.

British Steel was the subject of a ministerial direction in 2019, when the company collapsed in insolvency and then Greg Clark’s business secretary tried Continue taxpayer spending To keep it under state control while looking for a private buyer. The company was later purchased by the Chinese Jingye company in March 2020.

The Government approved emergency legislation this month after it became clear that Jingye was planning to close British steelThe two explosive ovens. The closure would have left the United Kingdom as the only G7 nation without the ability to make steel from raw materials.

Reynolds later monitored the delivery of raw materials to the British Steel Scunthorpe site to ensure the continuous operation of the two ovens.

The business secretary has said that the company’s nationalization is still a “probable option”, although officials and other industry experts are preparing a “investment case” to attract a third -party buyer for British steel. The hope is that another private company can be found to assume the company, although officials admit that this will only happen in some form of government support.

Talks between the Government and Jingye on a taxpayer support package to help you invest in Greener technology founded earlier this month after the Chinese company rejecting a 500 million Reynolds pounds.

Jingye was looking for up to £ 1 billion in support of the 2 million pounds project to close the two explosion ovens and build two electric arc furnaces.