Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says public ownership of British Steel is now a likely option, as the government works to secure the industry's future and attract private investment. Report by Etemadil. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00All options are on the table in terms of ownership. I said in Parliament yesterday to be completely
00:04transparent, public ownership is an option, it is perhaps the likely option at this stage.
00:10Of course for the long-term future, for investment in new facilities that, as you say, the Blast
00:15Furnaces have a natural life to them, there's not many years left within them, certainly
00:19more than this weekend, but you will have to have that long-term plan. I need a private
00:23sector partner with a co-investment position, a chance to put capital in alongside the government,
00:29and expertise to deliver a transition, and that's what I am seeking. But clearly, without
00:34the government stepping in to take control, first of all, we would have lost any potential
00:37option of that, and without the government potentially becoming the owner at some stage
00:41or an interim basis, again, we wouldn't have that possible bridge to the future. We would
00:45not be comfortable with the loss of British steel, that essential economic security and
00:50prosperity that comes from that, talking about thousands of people's jobs at the same time,
00:53and of course, to be clear, there are major costs for the taxpayer in the event that that
00:57happens. We've got to understand the relationship between those two things, and I think, to be
01:00frank, they absolutely do. So we stepped up, and on the long-term future, look, this has
01:06been a difficult site for many years. I understand that it does currently make losses. You know,
01:10I don't accept that we just cannot make steel in the UK, but Germany can do it, or Holland can
01:16do it, or Sweden can do it. We are pursuing policies as a government in terms of long-term investment
01:21infrastructure, in terms of housing, of which there's a major demand for steel. So I believe
01:27the market is there if the business environment is the right one. Getting this right, getting
01:31a partner in, is about more than just a sort of bilateral negotiation on a particular site
01:36or a particular part of the British steel industry. It is about that wider environment. That's
01:40what I'm seeking to address through the steel strategy. Imagine if I'd published a steel strategy
01:44after losing British steel. I think you might have said, just a bit of it for this, mate.