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The business secretary has refused to guarantee the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe will get enough raw materials in time to keep its crucial blast furnaces running.
Jonathan Reynolds also said he would not sell the business to another Chinese owner as he indicated there was now a “high trust bar” for Chinese companies to invest in sensitive UK industries.
On Saturday the government pushed emergency legislation to take control of British Steel through Parliament, with Mr Reynolds warning MPs that once blast furnaces run out of raw materials, they can never be turned back on.
A day later he said would not "make my situation or the nation's situation more difficult" by commenting on specific commercial details.
He told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "If we hadn't acted, the blast furnaces were gone, steel production in the UK, primary steel producing, would have gone.
"So we've given ourselves the opportunity, we are in control of the site, my officials are on site right now to give us a chance to do that."
He also revealed ministers decided to act when it emerged that the company’s Chinese owners, Jingye, was not only halting the purchase of new raw material, but had begun to sell off supplies it already had.
But he declined to accuse the company of deliberately sabotaging the business at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), saying he was “not accusing the Chinese state of being directly behind this".
However, he did agree there was now a "high trust bar" that would have to be surmounted before Chinese investment in "sensitive" areas like steel.
For his part, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he was "100% certain" the CCP had ordered Jingye to buy British Steel in order to close the business, but provided no evidence, citing only "intuition".
Mr Reynolds also conceded that the government expects to lose money on British Steel, which is losing around £233 million a year.
But he warned the cost of the complete collapse of the business would have been “easily over £1 billion”.
On Saturday Mr Reynolds accused the firm of planning to “irrevocably and unilaterally” shut the furnaces down by starving them of raw materials – as it emerged that police were called after reports executives were blocked from entering.
Later, in a surprise move, the prime minister met with steelworkers near Scunthorpe to discuss the plans.
He told them: “You are the people who have kept this going. You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognise that.”
Although the new law stops short of nationalisation, the government conceded it is “likely” British Steel will have to be taken into public ownership after Sir Keir Starmer warned the UK’s economic and national security was “on the line".
English (US) ·