The Chinese company said the U.K. offered “almost zero compensation” after taking control of British Steel, as London says the move protects jobs, domestic steel supply and national interests.
Jingye Steel has called on Britain to stop what it described as trampling on international investment rules and to provide prompt, full and effective compensation for losses tied to the nationalisation of British Steel. The dispute escalated after the U.K. government said it took control of the company to preserve domestic steelmaking capacity, protect thousands of jobs and keep the Scunthorpe blast furnaces running. Jingye said the British side had disregarded its ongoing investment and significant contributions while offering “almost zero compensation.” It also cited the cost of state support, saying the United Kingdom had spent £377 million ($507 million) as of the end of January, that the total was expected to have exceeded £600 million ($807 million) by the end of June, and that spending could surpass £1.5 billion, or more than $2 billion, by 2028. China’s Ministry of Commerce said the U.K. had forcibly taken over and nationalised British Steel in the name of national security, damaging Jingye’s rights and Chinese investor confidence, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed to a bilateral investment treaty signed in 1986 that protects against arbitrary expropriation without compensation. British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, the last in the U.K. to make “virgin steel” from raw materials, has nearly 2,700 employees and produces about three million tonnes of steel a year.