British Steel gets Labour party backing to revamp second-largest production giant

Britain's opposition Labour Party said on Tuesday the government must intervene to save British Steel, the country's second-largest steel producer, from the administration. The steelmaker, which employs around 5,000 people in Scunthorpe, northern England, with tens of thousands more dependent on in its supply chain, is on the brink of collapse unless the government agrees to provide an emergency 30 million pound ($38.1 million) loan by later on Tuesday.

"The UK steel industry is critical to our manufacturing base and is strategically important to UK industry," Gill Furniss, Labour's spokeswoman on steel, said in a statement. "Administration would be devastating for the thousands of workers and their families who rely on this key industry in a part of the country which has not had enough support and investment from the government over decades."