The government has assumed control of Sanjeev Gupta’s biggest steelmaking operation in a dramatic intervention that leaves it overseeing more than half of Britain’s steel industry.
On Thursday, the official receiver stepped in to take charge of the Rotherham steelworks in South Yorkshire after the High Court approved a winding-up petition from creditors. The ruling forced Gupta’s Speciality Steel UK (SSUK) into administration, raising the prospect of closure for a plant that employs 1,500 workers and is home to one of Britain’s few “green” electric arc furnaces.
The Labour government said it acted to safeguard jobs and stabilise production, but the move comes at significant cost. Monthly wages at the site total £4 million, meaning taxpayers will fund tens of millions of pounds in operating expenses until insolvency specialists Teneo can secure a private buyer. The official receiver, an independent arm of government, has stressed it intends to reclaim these costs through an eventual sale.
The decision deepens the state’s role in steelmaking following April’s takeover of British Steel from its Chinese owner and a £500 million subsidy for Tata Steel’s green transition in Wales. More than half of the UK’s 5.6 million tonnes of annual steel output is now effectively state-run.
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