Britain in talks with British Steel and Tata to secure industry's future

Britain said on Monday it was in talks with steel makers, including British Steel, owned by China's Jingye Group, and India's Tata to help secure the industry's long-term future.

The government said British Steel had agreed to maintain current operations and job numbers while the talks were under way.

Sky News reported earlier on Monday that Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg had written to Jingye Group to express a willingness to negotiate over the Chinese company's request for a bailout to avoid thousands of job losses.

Jingye, which bought British Steel out of insolvency in 2020, had told the government that its two blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe steelworks were unlikely to be viable without government aid, Sky News reported earlier this month.

A government spokesperson said: "We are working across the steel sector on achieving their sustainable and competitive long-term future.

"We recognise that businesses are feeling the impact of high global energy prices, particularly steel producers, which is why we announced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to bring down costs."

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Elizabeth Piper and Angus MacSwan)