Scunthorpe fights to save steel industry

As negotiations between the government and British Steel continue in earnest, a community digs in. BBC News visits Scunthorpe to speak with workers and their families.

British Steel was used to make landing craft that carried troops to storm the beaches of northern France on D-Day, paving the way for the end of World War Two.

Today, Scunthorpe has an air of a town returning to a war footing; a community fighting to keep the coke ovens burning, with 2,700 jobs and its identity etched into steel at stake.

But against a tide of 25% tariffs on steel exports to the US, which came into force last month, and ongoing talks between the government and British Steel’s Chinese owners about the future of Scunthorpe steelmaking, there is nonetheless a feeling of helplessness.

“It’s nerve-racking because it feels like it’s out of our hands,” says Kerensa Smith, cradling her 10-month-old daughter Ottilie. “Everything is out of balance at the minute.”

Each day, workers file past a British Steel welcome sign that reads: Building stronger futures.

For the Smith family and thousands like them, the future looks bleak.

Kerensa’s husband, Tom, has recruited his whole family in the fight to keep the works feeding the nation with steel. He is also a Community union branch secretary.

We find the family, joined by Tom’s father Mark, unloading Save Scunthorpe Steel placards from a car parked near Central Park.

As Tom uses a mallet to hammer in the homemade signs, passing motorists sound their horns.

With defiance in his voice, he declares: “We have some of the best steelworkers in the world right here. We make the best grade of steel and every single one of us is passionate about it.”

The steelworks, with its vast chimneys and towers, looms over the town, as it has done for generations.

Tom adds: “Iron ore is the bedrock of this town. Every single person in this town has some connection to it.”

The government has offered to buy the coking coal that is essential to keep steel production going in Scunthorpe, the BBC has been told.

British Steel has warned that the raw materials needed to keep its plant’s two blast furnaces operational are running out.

Sources said the government was putting the offer to British Steel’s Chinese owner Jingye, which will decide on whether to accept it.

Unions say the situation is on a “cliff-edge”.

Tom says: “They need to put their differences aside, get the raw materials here and keep us going.

“If we go down, we are going to be at the mercy of foreign imports and that can’t be allowed to happen.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, President Donald Trump said tariffs are needed to restore America’s manufacturing base, which he and his allies see as vital in protecting national security.

Even though the move threatens the future prosperity of industrial towns like Scunthorpe, many here – especially those employed at the steelworks – agree with the reasoning.

Lee Porter, a labourer and cleaner at the steelworks, has composed a song in support of the Save Scunthorpe Steel campaign – and Trump’s rhetoric strikes a chord with him.

“I think he’s right,” says Lee. “That’s what we need to do. We need to be more self-sufficient. It makes sense.”

Lynne Atkinson, a care worker and daughter of a former blast furnace engineer, has started a Facebook campaign to draw attention to the town’s fight to save the industry.

She believes the loss of the town’s main employer will have serious ramifications for Britain’s security.

“There are always going to be wars,” she says. “It’s going to leave [Britain] completely open.

“If something does happen, and we’re reliant on imports from China for instance, they would immediately side with Russia and cut us off and we’d have no way of making steel. I think it’s madness.”

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