1 week Ago By Jennie Buzaglo
Rachel Reeves was slammed on GB News after emergency proposals to save British Steel’s Scunthorpe blast furnaces were approved by Parliament . Legislation giving the Government the power to instruct British Steel to keep the plant open passed both the Commons and Lords in a single day unopposed. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds accused British Steel’s Chinese owners, Jingye, of failing to negotiate “in good faith” after it decided to stop buying enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe going.
Addressing the new bill on GB News on Sunday (April 13), presenters Cameron Walker and Anne Diamond questioned how Rachel Reeves is going to fund this bill. Speaking to James Heale, Cameron asked the political correspondent on how much this legislation is going to cost taxpayers. James said it is believed to be in the "hundreds of millions right now".
He explained: "The full cost is yet to be worked out. But I think Jingye lost about £650 million between 2020 and 2023. It's likely to be hundreds of millions but even a billion or so.
" Anne claimed that the Chancellor has been claiming there is no money, but agreed this bill must have been passed. James added: "There will be a lot of Labour MPs will be pleased they have done this even if a few conceived it's a bit belated, perhaps." In a brutal swipe to the Chancellor, Cameron quipped: "It's amazing how much money Rachel Reeves can find down the back of the sofa, isn't it?" Anne pointed out that the money can always be found from somewhere, but also took aim at the politician as she realised what this could mean for British taxpayers.
She added: "Not necessarily good news for us." On Saturday, the Tories accused Labour of “indefensible incompetence” for almost allowing British Steel to collapse. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith accused the Government of behaving like “sulky teenagers”.
But Labour MPs attempted to hit back as they claimed the crisis was caused by leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch, back when she was Business and Trade Secretary in the previous Conservative government. This is a breaking live TV story, the Showbiz Express.co.
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