Brexit

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British Steel is on the brink of collapse unless it can secure £30m in emergency funding from the government, putting about 5,000 jobs directly at risk and endangering thousands more in the supply chain. Andrew Stephenson, a junior minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), refused to give details in parliament on Tuesday of ongoing talks between the government and British Steel. However, he ruled out nationalisation of the company.

The company has blamed Brexit for the squeeze on its finances. Union representatives said British Steel had lost 25% of orders at its Scunthorpe plant because of Brexit uncertainty, according to the Conservative MP Caroline Spelman. EU buyers would have to pay tariffs on British Steel’s products if the UK left without a deal.

 British Steel on brink of administration, putting 5,000 jobs at risk | Business | The Guardian

Britain’s manufacturing sector has suffered the worst slump in orders for more than two and a half years as the car and textile industries struggled against Brexit headwinds. The CBI said its industrial trends monitor for May showed that without an agreement with the European Union, the manufacturing sector was gripped by “economic paralysis” and moving “ever closer to disaster”. Amid concerns that British Steel faces bankruptcy with the loss of 4,500 jobs and a further 20,000 among suppliers, the CBI said continued stockpiling was not enough to offset the slowdown in manufacturing as a result of parliament’s failure to agree a Brexit deal. Order books were below normal at 32% of manufacturers compared with 23% of firms where order books were above normal to give a rounded balance of -10%. The CBI said May’s survey revealed the lowest order balance since October 2016, while export orders worsened to a balance not seen since immediately after the referendum vote in July 2016.

 UK manufacturing hit by its worst slump in two and a half years | Business | The Guardian