British Steel could decide to shut Scunthorpe plant in days

British Steel could decide to shut Scunthorpe plant in days 29 minutes ago Share Save Zoe Conway & Tom Espiner BBC business correspondent & reporter Share Save Getty Images Decisions taken within the next few days will determine whether British Steel's Scunthorpe plant stays open, the BBC understands. The plant's Chinese owner, Jingye, has cancelled two cargo shipments of coking coal for the site's two blast furnaces and it has not yet paid for iron pellets that are scheduled to arrive next week. Without coal and iron ore, the blast furnaces will shut down within weeks. Last week British Steel launched a consultation on the proposed closure of its two blast furnaces at Scunthorpe, putting up to 2,700 jobs at risk. It has been meeting with the trade unions Community, GMB and Unite. The GMB's national officer, Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, said that a union meeting with workers on Wednesday had shown that ''Jingye has no intention of running the plant responsibly. Nationalisation is now the only option to save UK steel-making." Sources close to the consultation accuse Jingye of deliberately undermining talks to save the plant by closing down the supply of raw materials. British Steel said: "We are not able to comment at this time". Reuters