SPECIAL REPORT: Will Keir Starmer save British Steel?

The News Agents

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Friday, 11 April 2025 - 41 minutes

In a dramatic turn of events, parliament has been recalled for MPs to discuss the future of British Steel. In Scunthorpe, some 2,700 jobs hang in the balance after the Chinese owner of the steel works said its blast furnaces are "no longer financially sustainable".

Thousands more jobs in the supply chain are also at risk - steel runs through the heart of Scunthorpe. Earlier this week, Keir Starmer declared that we have entered a "changing and completely new world" and promised to "rewire the state completely".

Does this mark the end of the era of globalisation? Could we see a more active state, stepping in to take control of vital national industries? And if so, how does that tally with the PM's remarks to The News Agents, just last month, that he wanted to see a smaller and more agile state?

Lewis has been in Scunthorpe for this special report of a town on the brink, a strategy, perhaps, turned on its head, and what it all means for Britain's industry, its people and its politics.

This special report was produced by Louis Degenhardt and Rory Symon.

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