LABOUR has been urged to catch up with public support for nationalising services “just as strategically important” as British Steel.

Campaigners and unions have continued to call for the full nationalisation of the company after the government passed an emergency law on Saturday to seize control of its Scunthorpe plant.

The legislation was passed in a single day, empowering ministers to save the last plant making “virgin steel” direct from raw materials from imminent closure, as well as thousands of jobs.

But Labour’s action was likened to an expensive public bailout today amid growing calls for the government to stop the private sector from running other services into the ground.

We Own It founder and director Cat Hobbs said: “The government has sprung into action to protect British Steel as a strategically important industry, with nationalisation on the table.

“In 2020, Keir Starmer promised public ownership of rail, mail, energy and water — as well as ending outsourcing in our NHS and local government.

“These public services are just as strategically important as steel, as drivers of economic and social development.

“Since Thatcher’s sell off, many of our key public services have been handed over to foreign states, offshore funds and billionaires.

“If Starmer is looking to take back control of our economy, this would be a good place to start.

“The UK public overwhelmingly supports public ownership and it’s high time our government caught up.”

Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: “Between them, privatisation and EU free market rules have almost destroyed a key, strategic industry in Britain.

“Instead of huge state bailouts of the privately-owned steel-making plants in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot, it’s time to take the whole industry into public ownership and begin the rollback of the whole privatisation racket, with the railways and water followed by gas, electricity, Royal Mail, oil and airports.”

Seizing control of the plant from the company’s Chinese owners, Jingye, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged nationalisation was “the likely option.”

In TV interviews today, he confirmed that there are currently no private investors willing to take the company on and that the government expects to lose money running British Steel.

But he declined to comment on specific commercial details when asked whether the firm would be able to secure enough raw materials to keep its blast furnaces from shutting down permanently.

Mr Reynolds told the BBC that ministers took the emergency action after learning that Jingye had not only stopped ordering more raw materials, but begun selling off existing supplies.

The company had demanded more than twice the £500 million offered by the government to keep the blast furnaces open, with few guarantees they would remain so. 

Jingye agreed to buy British Steel in 2019 when Boris Johnson was prime minister.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, at that time Mr Johnson’s chief business adviser, said that Jingye had been the only bidder.

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “Nationalisation is clearly the right move.

“However, the government is being forced into this rather than opting for it as part of an economic strategy.

“The refusal to embrace public ownership in other sectors, including public utilities, is only more glaring.”

Steel unions welcomed the government action to seize control of the company as a “first step” towards saving the steel industry.

Community union assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said: “[We] welcome and wholeheartedly back the Labour government’s decisive action to take control of British Steel.

“The government has sought to negotiate constructively and even offered to buy raw materials to stop the blast furnaces closing, but Jingye has shut down every avenue to keep the furnaces running and avoid imminent job losses.

“Moreover, Jingye has not consulted in good faith with the unions, and they now need to get out of the road to give space to all those who want to see British Steel succeed.

“This intervention by the UK Labour government is a first step towards securing a sustainable future for British Steel and steel communities like Scunthorpe.

“We will continue to work with the government to deliver this future and build a thriving UK steel industry which supports thousands of good jobs and the economic security of our country.”