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British Steel should be the “canary in the coalmine” that forces ministers to remove Chinese companies from critical infrastructure, they have been told.

The government was forced to take direct control of the company amid concern that its Beijing-based owners would not keep the plant running at Scunthorpe. Ministers feared the company planned to “sabotage” the site to increase British reliance on cheap Chinese imports, The Times understands.

There is alarm over Chinese involvement in other areas of critical infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants.

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UK Government insiders believe that steps taken by Jingye, the Chinese owner of British Steel, were intended to stop Britain producing its own virgin steel and force it to rely on imports from China. The steps included refusing to order new raw materials, selling the materials it had and rejecting offers from ministers to help stem losses at the Scunthorpe plant.

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Sir Christopher Chope, a Tory MP, told Times Radio that shutting down British Steel was “exactly what [Jingye] wanted to do”. He said: “They’re building a new steel production facility in China, and what they wanted to do was to use that production facility to supply the UK market. And indeed, this was an attempt at what I think is best described as industrial sabotage.”

Chinese companies have gained a foothold in telecoms, security equipment, and nuclear and green energy projects. Analysis published in January found Chinese businesses had funded or provided parts for at least 14 of 50 British offshore wind projects. Companies owned by the Chinese government had large stakes in three projects that produce enough energy between them to power up to two million homes. Chinese Generation Nuclear Power remains a lead ­developer in plans for the Bradwell B nuclear plant in Essex.

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A Liberal Democrat MP barred from entering Hong Kong has told the BBC she believes it was to "shut me up and to silence me".

Wera Hobhouse flew to Hong Kong with her husband on Thursday to visit her son and newborn grandson. However she was detained at the airport, questioned and deported.

The MP for Bath, one of more than 40 parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) which is critical of Beijing's record on human rights, said she was given no reason for being refused entry.

Downing Street said the trade minister, who is in Hong Kong to promote British exports, had relayed the government's "deep concern" about the incident to senior Chinese and Hong Kong figures.

A government spokesperson said Douglas Alexander had "demanded an explanation" to understand why Hobhouse was refused entry, when speaking with senior Chinese and Hong Kong interlocutors, including Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration.

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While her husband "got processed quite quickly" and was allowed entry, she was taken aside for questioning, held for five hours and then put on a return flight.

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Foreign Secretary David Lammy has promised to "urgently" raise the issue with authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing and "demand an explanation".

He added it would be "unacceptable for an MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views as a parliamentarian".

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On Monday, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Calum Miller said "we've still had no answers from Beijing".

He urged the government to reject China's planning application for a new embassy in London. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner will decide whether to approve the plan, which has been opposed by the local council.

"China wants to take advantage of the UK's openness while refusing entry to British MPs and placing bounties on the heads of democracy campaigners living in the UK," Miller said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/32655252

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The UK was "naive" to allow its sensitive steel industry to fall into the hands of a Chinese company, Britain's business secretary said on Sunday (Apr 13) after the government took control of British Steel.

But Jonathan Reynolds said he did not suspect the Chinese state of trying to tank the plant in northern England, the country's last factory able to make steel from scratch.

The government rushed urgent legislation through parliament on Saturday to stop the Scunthorpe plant's blast furnaces from turning off, after its Chinese owners Jingye said it was no longer financially viable to keep them burning.

Jingye bought British Steel in 2020 and says it has invested more than £1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion) to maintain operations but was losing around £700,000 a day.

"As a country we've got it wrong in the past," business and trade secretary Reynolds told Sky News on Sunday, blaming previous Conservative leaders for allowing Chinese companies to run sensitive infrastructure. "It was far too naive about some of this," he said.

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As Reuters reports, Jingye wanted to import steel from China for further processing in Britain, against a backdrop of global overcapacity in much of the steel industry and challenges from U.S. tariffs.

But the closure of blast furnaces at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe would have left Britain as the only major economy unable to produce so-called virgin steel from iron ore, coke and other inputs.

Large industrial companies such as Jingye Group had direct links to the Chinese Communist Party and China's government would understand why Jingye's proposal was unacceptable to Britain, he added.

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North East Derbyshire has been given a post-apocalyptic makeover in the Brownie's Adventure series.

The Brits been refining taking the piss into an artform for a long, long time

The Good Law Project has been working to help a young man who has been denied justice after he was sexually assaulted by a star journalist at the Daily Mail.

The young man, who we shall call X, was groped by the journalist, whom we are naming only as J. The Daily Mail has previously received a complaint of sexual assault by J from another man. These are not the only victims of J to whom Good Law Project has spoken.

Thames Water next, please.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20676198

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/21414090

The memo, shared with The Grocer, warns food businesses are woefully unprepared for challenges including soil degradation, extreme weather events, global heating and water scarcity and that yield, quality and predictability of food supply are all at severe risk.

It goes on to claim that companies’ risk mitigation strategies are being assured by major audit and assurance firms and giving false confidence to investors, whereas the true threat to the supply chain is far greater than companies have acknowledged.

Former Conservative Minister Michael Gove was handed a peerage in former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s resignation honors Friday, allowing him to sit for life in the House of Lords.

Other people handed a peerage include:

• Former Conservative Chief Whip Simon Hart

• Former Scotland Secretary Alister Jack

• Former Transport Secretary Mark Harper

• Ex-Attorney General Victoria Prentis

• Former Tory Chief Executive Stephen Massey.

• Ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

• Former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps

• Former Home Secretary James Cleverly

• Former Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell

• Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride

Meet London businessman Matt Clifford.

Keir Starmer wants AI at the heart of government. This week, the Prime Minister unveiled plans to digitize the UK civil service using AI, claiming it could save up to £45 billion.

Oh, and the man in charge? His name is Matt Clifford.

collapsed inline media

https://sifted.eu/articles/matt-clifford-to-oversee-ai-revolution-news

But while the government boasts about its ambitions, it has been less forthcoming about the business interests of the architect behind its flagship AI policy.

Entrepreneur First, the investment firm Clifford co-founded and co-owns, holds stakes in 449 tech companies. He also has dozens more holdings in his own name. Despite his central role in shaping AI policy, these financial ties were not publicly disclosed.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information reveal Matt Clifford has stakes in at least 8 companies involved in the Startup Coalition—an influential industry group funded by big tech.

The Startup Coalition has lobbied in favour of the UK government’s controversial plan to exempt AI firms from copyright law. This proposal is opposed by artists and the media

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/25/why-are-creatives-fighting-uk-government-ai-proposals-on-copyright

https://pressgazette.co.uk/media_business/copyright-ai-ft-right-wrong-opt-out-exemption/

Labour ministers have met with the group to discuss AI regulation and copyright issues once a month, on average, records show. The Startup Coalition also receives funding from Google, which stands to benefit from AI copyright exemptions.

Professor Gina Neff, director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at Cambridge University, told Democracy for Sale that government should talk to a wider circle of experts.

“There are many in civil society who are frustrated at the lack of access to tech policymaking in government. The UK has incredible expertise in AI, and we want to see that diversity reflected in decision-making.”

Matt Clifford helped establish the UK’s AI Safety Institute—recently rebranded the AI Security Institute, reportedly to align with the Trump White House’s AI approach. He is widely regarded as a respected expert in the field. Starmer accepted all 50 recommendations from his AI plan, published in January.

However, some in the tech and media sectors are uneasy about his influence.

“Of course, you want entrepreneurs involved” one industry source told Democracy for Sale. “But you don’t give one man—who runs the firm with the most AI investments in Europe—the job of writing the policy, then accept all his recommendations the same day he publishes his plan.”

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Matt Clifford have yet to respond to requests for comment.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/27168720

The company says the new site is expected to create 28,000 jobs and generate £50bn for the economy.