British Steel's owners, Jingye Group, announced a consultation to close Scunthorpe's two remaining blast furnaces potentially as soon as early June. The Government also confirmed media reports it had offered a support package to British Steel earlier in the week,

British Steel says it is planning to close its two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations in the north England town of Scunthorpe, after its Chinese owner Jingye failed to agree a rescue package with the U.

The British Steel site employs thousands of workers and its closure would mark the end of virgin steelmaking in the UK