The Green Party has said it will support nationalising British Steel in tomorrow’s vote.

Green MP Ellie Chowns said nationalisation was “the only sure way to secure this strategically important sector so vital to national security and British jobs”.

She added:

Public ownership of key sectors like steel, water, energy and transport has always been Green Party policy.

And where it is in the public interest to have public ownership of a key strategic industry, which appears to be the case with Scunthorpe Steelworks, Greens are in full support.

Taking British Steel into public ownership provides the opportunity to help drive the green industrial revolution, supporting Scunthorpe Steelworks to make the transition from blast furnaces to electric arcs, which are cheaper and far better for the environment to run.

Supporting decarbonisation of steel will further enable the UK to produce the green steel necessary to transition to a green economy, such as wind turbines and trains.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has now issued a statement on British Steel. It doesn’t add much to what Starmer said earlier. Reynolds, like the PM, emphasises the strategic importance of being able produce steel in the UK.

He said:

We will always do what is necessary to keep Britain secure at home and strong abroad. We are doing what previous governments have failed to, acting in the national interest to help secure UK steelmaking for the future

We negotiated with British Steel’s owners in good faith ever since coming to office. We made a generous offer of support to the company and I am deeply disappointed that we have been forced to take these measures, but Jingye have not been forthright throughout this process, and left us no choice but to act.

We’re in a new and changing world where it’s never been more important to support our security and build our resilience, so that we can have strength abroad and renewal at home, and that’s what this government has done.

If you’re wondering why the Scunthorpe steelworks is of such importance for the UK, my colleagues Rowena Mason, Eleni Courea and Jasper Jolly say this in their report:

Scunthorpe is the last remaining steelworks capable of making steel from iron ore and so is seen by some people as strategically important for the UK. However, Jingye last month said it planned to close the plant’s two blast furnaces, putting 2,700 jobs at risk. It has since refused to pay for new raw materials, with coal and iron ore deliveries to Immingham port not yet paid for.

The government had offered £500m in financial support to switch the blast furnaces to cleaner electric arc furnaces, but Jingye had requested much more.

Talks this week are thought to have stalled when Jingye balked at the conditions attached to the offer to pay for new raw materials. The delays in reaching an agreement had caused increasing alarm among workers, who feared at least one blast furnace might be forced to close as soon as next week, leading to job losses.

We’ve got a bit more from the PM, who said government plans to take control of the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe aims to “preserve all viable options” for the operation.

Asked to clarify whether the emergency legislation to be debated in the Commons and Lords on Saturday amounts to nationalisation, or as a precursor to nationalisation, Starmer said:

Well, what we’re doing tomorrow is passing legislation to take control of the plant and to preserve all viable options.

It doesn’t mean all options are on the table, but it means all options remain viable.

But the step we’re taking tomorrow is the step of taking control, because it’s necessary now to do that.

He added:

Obviously, negotiations will be going on for some time, but now is the time to take this action, to take control of the plant.

He did not directly answer when asked about the costs of the plan to secure Scunthorpe, nor why a similar plan was not presented to save the Port Talbot steelworks.

The last time parliament was recalled during recess was in 2021, when Afghanistan had to be evacuated during the Taliban takeover.

It is also the first recall of parliament on a Saturday since 1982.

Just ahead of Starmer’s press conference, No 10 said the bill up for debate tomorrow “provides the government with the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site”.

Here’s the full statement:

The prime minister has been clear, his government will always act in the national interest. All actions we take are in the name of British industry, British jobs and for British workers.

Tomorrow, parliament will be recalled to debate the Steel Industry (Special Measures) bill. The bill provides the government with the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site. It enables the UK government to preserve capability and ensure public safety. It also ensures all options remain viable for the future of the plant and the livelihoods it supports.

We have been negotiating with British Steel’s owners in good faith ever since coming to office. We have always been clear there is a bright future for steel in the UK. All options remain on the table.

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts MP has criticised Keir Starmer’s Labour government for taking differing approaches to Welsh and English jobs in the steel industry.

PA Media reports she said in a statement:

Parliament is being recalled tomorrow to debate the nationalisation of Scunthorpe steelworks.

But when global market forces devastated Welsh livelihoods in Port Talbot, Labour dismissed Plaid Cymru’s calls for nationalisation as ‘pipe dreams’.

In a real emergency, governments step up to defend their strategic interests. Plaid Cymru recognised the importance of Welsh steelmaking. Labour chose to look the other way.

When it was Wales, they mocked. Now it’s England, they act. Labour has taken Wales for granted for far too long – and the people of Wales won’t forget it.

After coming to power in 2024, the Westminster Labour government agreed a taxpayer-backed deal for the Port Talbot plant which was to provide £500m towards the construction of the new greener electric arc furnace at the site, with owners Tata paying £750m. About 500 jobs are expected to be created during its construction, however an estimated 1,900 jobs were expected to be lost with the closure of blast furnaces there.

Support for the recall of parliament tomorrow to discuss the renationalisation of British Steel has been welcomed in several political quarters.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:

With Putin’s barbaric war in Europe and Donald Trump’s disastrous tariffs causing economic turmoil, the future of steel production in this country is of real importance and nothing should be off the table in this matter of national security.

Tomorrow must be seen as an opportunity to come forward with a serious plan for the sustainable future of domestic steel production. The public rightly deserves better than political opportunism and grandstanding.

I hope across all sides of the House that this message is understood and embraced. We Liberal Democrats stand ready to help constructively bring about an outcome that delivers real change. All politicians would do well to remember the country is watching.

Green party of England and Wales MP Ellie Chowns said nationalisation was “the only sure way to secure this strategically important sector so vital to national security and British jobs”.

PA Media reports she said “Public ownership of key sectors like steel, water, energy and transport has always been Green Party policy. Nationalisation of the steel industry could also help drive the green industrial revolution. From wind turbines to trains, steel will be needed for the transition to a green economy. We must not leave the future of steel communities to the whims of multinational companies or unhinged American presidents.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also commented, with the MP for Clacton saying “China has no interest in keeping the steelworks open. Reform have been clear from the start that the only option we have to save this vital strategic asset – and thousands of jobs in the process – is to nationalise British Steel. We are calling on the government to do the right thing tomorrow and bring it back into public ownership.”

PA Media reports Farage also called on the government to acquire Liberty Steel Rotherham for its two electric arc furnaces.

Away from politicians, Greenpeace UK climate campaigner Lily-Rose Ellis said: “This parliamentary recall is a reassuring demonstration from the government that it is taking the issue seriously. The global race to a low-carbon economy is on, it’s important the UK and Scunthorpe don’t get left behind. The government must learn from the mistakes made at Port Talbot. We cannot afford to let that happen again, nor can it let steel production in the UK wither and die.”

To whet your appetite for May’s local elections in some areas of England, the Election Maps UK account on X (née Twitter) has this aggregate of council byelections since last year’s general election.

It finds that of the 235 seats contested, Labour have won the most seats of all with 74, albeit having lost 42 seats. The Conservatives have made the most gains (24 gains) and have won 61 seats. The Liberal Democrats remained on 46, while Reform UK have made 14 gains.

It puts Green party gains at three, and today co-leader of the party in England and Wales, Adrian Ramsay, was sharing news that Ruairidh Paton had won a seat in St. Ann’s, Haringey.

PA media have published this full list of people awarded peerages in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list. It lists:

• Michael Gove, former secretary of state for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

• Mark Harper, former secretary of state for Transport

• Simon Hart, former chief whip of the House of Commons

• Alister Jack, former secretary of state for Scotland

• Stephen Massey, former chief executive officer of the Conservative party

• Victoria Prentis, former attorney general

• Eleanor Shawcross (Wolfson), former Head of the No 10 Policy Unit

Away from the world of politics, Sunak also requested from the king a knighthood for England cricket’s fast bowler James Anderson. James retired from test cricket in July having taken more wickets than any fast bowler in test history.

Rebecca Long-Bailey has posted on social media to mark the death of Anne Harper.

In a statement the Labour MP for Salford said:

I’m sad to hear that Anne (Scargill) Harper passed away. Anne was a community activists and co-founder of Barnsley Women Against Pit Closures, the first of a national network of branches. She consistently fought for political representation for working-class women, workers’ rights and anti-fascism. My condolences to her family. Rest in Peace.

Barnsley-born Harper was married to former National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill from 1961 until they divorced in 2001.

The BBC reports that Harper’s death was confirmed by her friend and fellow activist Betty Cook, and that she had been living in a nursing home after developing dementia.

Civil servants in 16 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) offices have voted for strike action, PA Media reports.

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Fran Heathcote said:

This second ballot win shows the strength of feeling and solidarity among our members working for MCHLG. Management forcing through changes to the way they work negatively impacts them all.

Our hard-working members have shown they can deliver for the public while working flexibly, but the combination of office closures ending location-neutral recruitment and enforcing rigid office attendance policies removes this choice. Managers need to come to the table with meaningful alternative plans or face strike action.

PA Media has done an analysis of the candidates standing across next month’s local election in some areas of England, and has concluded that Reform UK has more candidates standing than any other party. It found

• Reform UK is standing 1,631 candidates, contesting 99.4% of seats. They have a full slate of candidates in 20 of the 23 local authorities holding elections. Research from the Labour party last week suggested at least 60 candidates were defections from the Conservatives

• Conservatives have 1,596 candidates (97.3% of seats), and a full slate in 20 authorities

• Labour have 1,543 candidates (94.0%) and a full slate in 19 authorities

• The Lib Dems have candidates standing in every seat in nine of the 23 local authorities, while the Green party of England and Wales have a full slate in five

We have produced an interactive guide to which areas in England are having elections on 1 May – with several areas having postponed them.

Speaking of the Liberal Democrats, their Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper has also given her view of today’s GDP figures for February. In a statement she said:

The government risks taking weed killer to any green shoots of recovery as the disastrous jobs tax is about to bite. With Donald Trump throwing the global economy into turmoil, ministers must face up to the new reality. They must scrap their growth-crushing jobs tax and jettison their misguided red lines refusing to negotiate a bespoke UK-EU customs union.

I mentioned earlier that Ed Davey was making a campaign visit to Shrewsbury ahead of May local elections across some parts of England. Inevitably, given the Liberal Democrat leader’s track record, there are photographs, and this time Davey was out in a canoe with local MP Helen Morgan and some of the Liberal Democrat councillors from the region.

Earlier, also with the local elections in England in mind, leader Nigel Farage was boasting of a council seat gain for Reform UK in Longdendale (Tameside). Claiming “Longdendale is the safest Labour ward deep in their heartlands” he described it as “Reform UK’s most extraordinary win yet”. Farage said “Labour’s vote is coming to us in the Midlands and the North”.

Reform UK took 46.6% of the vote, on an estimated turnout of 21%. Labour, the Conservatives and the Green party of England and Wales all lost vote share.

Our senior economics correspondent Richard Partington offers some analysis of today’s economic news, saying the GDP figures offer Rachel Reeves some light as UK enters the Trump tariff tunnel. Here is a snippet:

It is now likely the first quarter of the year – when British business leaders had claimed to be slashing jobs at among the sharpest rates since the 2008 financial crisis – will stand as the high point of 2025 for economic activity.

The unexpected February GDP reading could bode well as evidence of Britain heading into the Trump-induced turmoil from a stronger starting point than first feared. Economists had forecast growth of only 0.1% in February, while January’s GDP snapshot was revised up from a fall of 0.1% to zero.

February’s economic expansion was broad-based, including a 0.3% rise in services output, suggesting that consumers were ready to look through a gloomy backdrop and kept spending. Resilience in wage growth – which remains above inflation despite rising pressures on living costs – no doubt helped. There was also little evidence that higher business taxes and weaker demand for goods from overseas were hitting manufacturing output

You can read Richard Partington’s analysis here: GDP jump offers Rachel Reeves some light as UK enters Trump tariff tunnel

It may be ever thus that governments claim small rises in GDP are a direct result of their policies, and that small dips are a result of global factors out of their control, but the Spectator’s Ross Clark has conceded “Reeves manages to grow the economy” in the magazine’s economics newsletter today. He writes:

Just when everyone seems to be revising down expectations of growth, real world data starts pointing in the opposite direction. The Office for National Statistics estimates this morning that GDP grew by 0.5 per cent in February. It also revised January’s figures upwards to give growth for the last quarter of 0.6 per cent, and annual growth of 1.4 per cent. That is almost looking healthy. For the moment, the Reeves Recession has been put on hold.

Yet these figures do look somewhat historic. They cover a period before the national insurance increases for employers took effect and, of course, before Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ turned global markets upside down. We won’t know the effect of tariffs for at least a couple of months.

No one will be happier with this morning’s figures than the Chancellor. The immediate threat to her position appears to have receded significantly. Besides the renewed growth in the UK economy, the focus of economic news has moved away from Britain’s performance and on to turmoil in the global economy. In the space of a month Britain has gone from looking the sick man of the developed world to being a relative haven of calm.

While he was on the media round this morning, Conservative shadow minister for the environment Robbie Moore was pressed on how secure Kemi Badenoch was as opposition leader. This follows a report in the Times claiming Conservative donors are withholding backing for the party over concerns about her leadership and scepticism that she can see off the threat of voters shifting to support Reform UK.

Moore told Sky News viewers “Well, look, we’ve undoubtedly, as the Conservative party, had one of the biggest bruising general elections. We all know that, and it takes time to build back our base, build back that level of trust and support that we need from the wider electorate.”

He said Badenoch was providing “strong leadership” and they were a united parliamentary party with “plenty of fire in our belly and plenty of enthusiasm.”

Asked about the prospect of another Conservative leadership election before the year was out, Moore said “absolutely not” and that the party was “united” in holding the Labour government account under Badenoch’s leadership. He said:

We are not only having the task of holding this government to account and making sure that they are focusing on things that matter to our many hard working families and businesses across the UK, but also having to develop that relationship and that trust with the electorate that we lost at the general election. And of course, of course, that takes time.

In the article published overnight in the Times, Aubrey Allegretti, formerly of this parish, quoted anonymous shadow cabinet ministers who, he reported, said donors were holding out to see the results of the forthcoming local elections in England.

One was quoted as saying “My lot are waiting for evidence that their money will actually buy influence. It’s not clear how long she’ll last, and whether our party has learned to stop defenestrating leaders,” while another said “Some colleagues haven’t given up on leadership ambitions, and are keeping their donors to themselves for now because they sense she’ll be ousted next year.”

Under a revamp of the leadership rules, Badenoch is immune from a vote of no confidence until November, which will mark a year since she was elected by party members in a contest with Robert Jenrick.

Care minister Stephen Kinnock has told viewers of Sky News that “my heart goes out to steelworkers and their families and communities in Scunthorpe that are facing very challenging times.”

He said “It’s absolutely clear that we’re focused on getting a commercial deal with Jingye, the owners of the Scunthorpe steelworks. That commercial deal, I think can put the steelworks on a solid footing to ensure that it’s competitive and viable.”

He said:

Steel is an absolutely vital foundational industry for our economy, for our national security. And this government is committed to building a strong steel industry after many years of neglect from our Conservative predecessors. And we will ensure that happens.

But the right way forward is for a commercial deal, so that you have a business managing in a fast moving market, a highly competitive market. That is what’s best for the future of the steel industry, and that is the deal, that partnership, is what we need to build.

On Thursday, ministers were thought to have offered to provide funding for the purchase of raw materials such as iron ore and coking coal for Scunthorpe’s blast furnaces, with the government under mounting pressure to nationalise British Steel.

As well as making that call just now for Keir Starmer to call a summit over Trump’s trade tariffs, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey will be making a campaign visit to the River Severn later today, and the party has been pushing its campaign about water quality.

Speaking on LBC News this morning, spokesperson Munira Wilson said the Labour government had “taken some steps forward” but said it had not gone far enough.

Criticising what she described as “years of frankly neglect of our rivers and seas by the previous Conservative government”, she told listeners:

I don’t think the Labour government has gone far enough with their new legislation. We know that Ofwat as a water regulator is totally discredited. It doesn’t have the teeth to take action. So I think we need a new regulator with teeth that will actually be able to crack down on this disgrace. Because I think the public are shocked to see this disgusting sewage going into our precious waters and seas, day after day, month after month, year after year.

Liberal Democrat analysis of data claimed that the top ten longest sewage spills last year included one single sewage dump from South West Water into Salcombe Regis Stream lasting for 366 days due to the leap year.

The party is calling for a ban on bonuses for water company bosses, asserting that water company executives received over £20m in total last year – including basic pay, pension contributions and bonuses.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected in Poland today for informal discussions with her counterparts in the EU.

Ahead of her visit, a spokesperson for the Treasury said “the chancellor will be travelling to Warsaw to make the case for deeper defence financing cooperation with our European allies so together we deliver greater economic and national security in a changed world.”

Earlier, while appearing on Sky News, care minister Stephen Kinnock said the government was intent on “rebuilding our relations with our European partners and allies” which he said had been “so badly damaged after years of Conservative failure and incompetence.”

He told viewers that the government aimed for good deals with all major trading partners, saying “We hope [for] a good trade deal with the US [and] a removal of friction in terms of relations with the EU. You know, let’s not forget, the EU is still, by some margin, our most important trading partner. And so that combination of getting the trade policies right, along with an industrial strategy that builds our own capability, is the right way to go.”

Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott has criticised the government for its spending priorities, after the announcement that the UK was to provide an additional £450m in support for Ukraine in its war effort against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Posting to social media, the 71-year-old, who has been an MP since 1987, said “There is plenty of money for war, just not for the winter fuel allowance.”

The UK and Germany are hosting a meeting of 50 nations at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels on Friday. British defence secretary John Healey and his German counterpart, defence minister Boris Pistorius, will co-chair the 27th Ukraine Defence Contact Group, a role previously performed by the US defense secretary until Donald Trump’s return to office.

European allies have announced a “surge” of military support for Ukraine, with the British government unveiling £450m (€516m / $580m) in UK-led aid. The funding will provide repairs and maintenance to vehicles and equipment as well as radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones.

In comments briefed in advance, PA Media reported that Healey would tell the contact group:

The work of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group is vital to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position and pile pressure on Putin to help force him to end this terrible war.

We cannot jeopardise peace by forgetting the war, which is why today’s major package will surge support to Ukraine’s frontline fight. 2025 is the critical year for Ukraine. Our job as defence ministers is to put into the hands of the Ukrainian war fighters what they need. We must step up to deter Russian aggression by continuing to bolster Ukraine’s defences.”

Liberal Democrats say they welcome the move, but described the sums involved as “small change”. Defence spokesperson Helen Maguire said:

While we welcome any increase in support for Ukraine, this package is small change compared to what’s needed to combat Putin’s barbaric war. John Healey is right: 2025 is a critical year. But Britain needs to do more.

The UK must lead the charge in seizing the Russian assets held here in Britain -- funnelling oligarchs’ money to back Zelenskyy’s brave defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Without that, we risk failing Ukraine in their hour of greatest need.

My colleague Jakub Krupa is following events in Brussels on our Europe live blog.

Incidentally here is the ONS chart of GDP figures from 2007 to the present day, which shows the UK economic growth has essentially picked up a little since May 2023, after a period of post-pandemic stagnation.

You can follow the impact on markets of the GDP news and the latest tariff shenanigans coming out of Washington and Beijing with Kalyeena Makortoff on our business live blog.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Munira Wilson was asked this morning about how well the party felt the government had been handling the imposition of tariffs on the UK and the broader global economy.

She was challenged by LBC News presenter Vanessa Baffoe whether, given Donald Trump’s sudden climbdown on some of the higher threatened tariffs, the government had been right to delay any immediate retaliation. Wilson told listeners:

Well, the Liberal Democrats have said all along, you’ve got to stand up to a bully. So I think what we want to see the prime minister doing is building an economic coalition of the willing, working with our allies to boost trade elsewhere, whilst the US has proven itself an unreliable partner

And that’s why Liberal Democrats have been consistently calling for the UK Government to work for a stronger and better trade deal with the EU, to cut red tape for our businesses, so that we can be exporting and boosting growth in our economy here with the EU.

The care minister has defended the government’s cautious response to developments in global trade after the sweeping imposition of tariffs by the US administration in Washington.

Stephen Kinnock said “If we were to just jump in one direction or the other every time there’s a new development, we would be jumping around all over the place. I don’t think that that’s going to be in the interest of our economy or of our national security or of our business community.”

Kinnock said he understood that the media “are keen for us to give a running commentary on what president Trump is doing” but argued that “we feel that it’s much better to show that we are acting in the national interest, that we are continuing to be very vigilant.”

He reiterated that “the prime minister has said all options are on the table. And if it does come to the point where retaliation is needed, then we are, of course, ready to do that.”

On Sky News, business correspondent Gurpreet Narwan dsescribed the economic news as “welcome” for the government, but cautioned that this might be “the last growth we see.”

She told viewers that businesses in the UK had faced “crippling tax rises, those national insurance contribution increases coming down the road, [and] confidence is falling” adding that “this feels a bit kind of redundant already, doesn’t it? Because of the week we’ve had, it might be the last growth we see now that Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on countries across the world.”

She continued “Businesses might be nervous about investing, for example, about hiring, and they still don’t know what Donald Trump is exactly up to. So overall, the outlook for the UK economy is pretty poor because of what Donald Trump is doing in the US.”

On the media round today for the Conservatives was shadow minister for the environment Robbie Moore, who said “of course, we welcome any growth figures” when asked about February’s GDP figures.

However, he expressed concern about the wider direction of the economy, telling Sky News viewers:

This is just for February, and we know that the OBR gave a huge amount of caution as we head into this year, projecting a reduction in growth. And also this is before all of those punitive tax increases kick in this month, like the jobs tax, employers national insurance increases, minimum wage increases, business rates increases.

So of course, we welcome it, but based on a lot of the conversations that I was having literally just yesterday with manufacturing and engineering businesses in my constituency of Keighley, their business certainty is very, very low.

Jamie Grierson is a senior news reporter for the Guardian

A senior economic adviser to Donald Trump has said it would take “an extraordinary deal” for any country, including the UK, to improve on the 10% tariff rate the US has imposed almost worldwide, pouring cold water on Downing Street’s hopes for a breakthrough.

Speaking to CNBC, Kevin Hassett, an economist and adviser to Trump, said any deal that would persuade the president to go below that would need to be “extraordinary”.

“I think everybody expects that the 10% baseline tariff is going to be the baseline,” he said. “It is going to take some kind of extraordinary deal for the president to go below there.”

While the UK is pressing for a reduction in tariffs through a trade deal, Downing Street has stressed throughout that the world has changed and the UK must also pursue other avenues for economic growth and agreements with other partners.

Read more from Jamie Grierson here: Trump’s economic adviser dampens Starmer’s hopes of tariffs relief

Speaking on LBC News, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson welcomed what she described as “these green shoots of recovery” after GDP rose 0.5% in February, but said growth “risks being choked off because of the jobs tax”, in a reference to rising employer national insurance contributions.

Wilson warned that “additional cost, both in terms of national insurance rises and with business rates increasing on our high streets, is stifling growth. And that means less money going to the chancellor that can then be spent on rebuilding our broken public services, like our schools and hospitals.”