Furious workers and their families are demanding action to save British Steel after it today collapsed, with the government claiming EU rules make a bailout illegal.

The country's second-largest steel firm is now in liquidation, meaning up to 4,000 jobs in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, 800 in Teesside and 20,000 in the UK supply chain are now at risk.

The Government refused to make a £30million loan after lending the firm £120million three weeks ago.

Business secretary Greg Clark said the Government's hands were tied by EU law which makes state aid of companies illegal.

Communities that rely on the plants for work have hit out at the refusal, with Liz Clark Wright, who said her own father died working the company, saying: 'This will crucify Scunthorpe.'

'The Government can help very Tom, Dick and Harry but won't help BRITISH Steel,' she wrote on Facebook, adding: 'The powers that be should hold their heads in shame!'

One worker, who did not want to be named, said: 'The Government doesn't seem interested in the steel industry. If it was something in London there would have been money to put in.'

Workers are pictured leaving the steelworks plant in Scunthorpe following the announcement that it today collapsed

Pictured: British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, where 4,000 workers face losing their jobs

This graph shows the overall decline in Britain's production of crude steel from 1996 to 2016

Workers turned up to the plant in Scunthorpe (pictured) this morning to find that British Steel is in liquidation

Pictured: Workers leave the plant today, telling reporters that they 'used to be' employed at the Scunthorpe site as British Steel is now in liquidation

Pictured: A worker leaves British Steel's Scunthorpe plant today as the firm announced it was collapsing following the government saying it couldn't grant a loan to the company

Labour and union officials say the manufacturer should be natyionalised.

While Brexiteers say the firm's collapse shows the importance of the UK leaving the EU so it is free from Europe's competition rules.

It is illegal under EU law for member states to offer state aid to firms because it distorts the market.

There are exceptions to the rule and job losses upwards of 15,000 may be enough to change the decision.

While Mr Clark today said the loan would be against the law, his department refused to clarify if he meant EU law.

Does the EU stop states supporting industry? The European Union does not allow member states to offer financial aid to businesses if such assistance will distort competition in the bloc's single market. But critics say firms in France, Italy and Germany have benefited from govenrnment cash. It is the European Commission that has a final say on whether to permit state intervention. Due to the fact that the EU makes more steel than it needs, it and its members decided that uneconomical producers must be allowed to collapse. There may be other factors that contributed to the government not being able to bail out the firm as there are exceptions to the rule that member states can raise with the EU. One outcome that can be considered for exception is the loss of 15,000 jobs. About 20,000 face job losses at British Steel. It is not yet known whether the government will appeal on these grounds to the EU. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said the UK is 'not allowed' to intervene due to 'EU state aid rules'. But Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald pointed out that the Italian government stepped in to save the Ilva plant. 'The Government must get off its hands and do what is necessary,' he said, adding that British Steel had told him a 'no-deal Brexit' would be 'disastrous'. France gave between £17.5million and £44million to the ArcelorMittal steel plant, despite EU rules. And Germany hands out aid on the understanding that steel is used on domestic schemes. Advertisement

'The Government can only act within the law, which requires any financial support to a steel company to be on a commercial basis,' he said.

'I have been advised that it would be unlawful to provide a guarantee or loan on the terms of any proposals that the company or any other party has made.'

Mr Clark told the Commons he would 'pursue remorselessly every possible step to secure the future of these valuable operations', but said in Government 'you're obliged to follow the ministerial code, you're not allowed to make a decision that would be illegal'.

He said: 'Immensely frustrating though it is, I would have much preferred to have given the opportunity of this loan rather than go the route that it has. That is a requirement, and there is no possibility in setting that aside.'

The government's Official Receiver will now act as a manager at the company, liquidating its assets to ensure its debts are paid.

Accountancy firm EY will assist the Receiver is looking for a buyers, with Mr Clark telling the Commons interested parties have already been in touch. In the meantime, British Steel will continue trading normally.

The company assured workers they will receive their pay for May and June, but

Mr Justice Snowden, ruling after an out-of-hours hearing in London on Wednesday morning, said cash-flow forecasts produced by the company and its advisers 'indicate that the company will run out of cash by the end of the week, with a shortage of £14.8 million, increasing thereafter to nearly £95 million by early August 2019'.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: 'We recognise this will be a deeply worrying time for the thousands of dedicated British Steel workers, those in the supply chain and local communities.

'There are no job losses at this time and the official receiver has already said staff will continue to be paid and employed.

'The Government has worked tirelessly with British Steel, its owner Greybull Capital and lenders to explore all potential options to secure a solution for British Steel.

'We have already shown our willingness to act through the commercial agreement last month, but we can only act within the law which requires any financial support to a steel company to be on a commercial basis.

Workers are pictured arriving at British Steel's Scunthorpe plant this morning

British Steel has collapsed and an Official Receiver will now liquidate its assets in order to see that its debts are paid

The future of the Scunthorpe plant in North Lincolnshire (pictured) looks bleak

Workers are pictured leaving the Teesside British Steel site this afternoon as the firm collapsed

Workers turned up to the plant in Scunthorpe (pictured) this morning to find that British Steel is in liquidation

'It would be unlawful to provide a guarantee or loan on the terms of proposals that the company or any other party has made. We left no stone unturned in exploring the options.'

British Steel cited 'Brexit-related' issues for its troubles, but it also faces competition from cheaper Chinese steel.

Q&A: What's next for British Steel? The country's second-largest steel firm is in liquidation, which means the government's Official Receiver (OR) takes over management. British Steel will also be overseen by Special Managers, appointed to help the OR in the everyday running of the company. Here some pointers as to how the situation will unfold after today's announcement. Q. What does the government's OR do? A. The OR will now liquidate British Steel's assets in order to pay off its debts. Q: Do plant workers still have jobs? A: Yes, for the moment. Special Managers will assist the OR in running the plant, meaning workers will have jobs and be paid as the firm winds down. Q. Will British Steel continue to trade? A: The company will continue to operate as normal, until its assets are fully liquidated. Q. Can British Steel be saved? A. The Labour Party believes that the government should nationalise the company. This would mean the tax-payer effectively funds a bailout and the company continues to operate. It could later be re-privatised once in a stable condition. Advertisement

The firm secured a £120million loan from the government to pay its EU carbon bill and avoid a hefty fine in April.

The bloc forces polluting firms to purchase carbon credits. However, British Steel had sold its credits off and the EU suspended access to new credits until the ratification of a Brexit deal.

Anna Turley, Labour MP for Redcar, which lost its SSI steelworks four years ago, said: 'This is devastating news for hundreds of workers on Teesside and thousands more in the supply chain and across the whole business.

'So many people gave their heart and soul into getting British Steel up and running, and it was such a positive story after a tough time for steel on Teesside.

'Three and a half years after the loss of SSI, it is a disgrace that we are here again fighting for steel jobs.

'The lessons of that terrible closure must be learned. We cannot allow thousands of skilled jobs and strategic industrial assets to be lost again.'

Ms Turley added: 'The cost of government inaction will be devastating. Letting another British steelmaker go to the wall is unthinkable.'

Speaking outside British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, Charlotte Childs, a former steelworker and a regional official for the GMB union, said the news was 'absolutely devastating'.

'Unemployment in North Lincolnshire at the minute is 4.8 per cent, if the steelworks goes that rises that to 8.4 per cent, which is double the national average,' she said.

'It’s not just the 4,000 workers that work on the steelworks or even the 20,000 people within the supply chain, it’s the ancillary businesses that rely on the steelworkers having a decent income and being able to spend that money within the leisure economy in the area.'

Samuel Glentworth, 19, is pictured arriving for work at the plant this morning, with some fearing they could have no job tomorrow

Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: 'This is absolutely devastating news for the thousands of workers, their families and the communities in Scunthorpe and Teesside and those throughout the supply chain.'

The Official Receiver said in a statement: 'The company in liquidation is continuing to trade and supply its customers while I consider options for the business. Staff have been paid and will continue to be employed.

'The court also appointed Special Managers to assist me with my work and they are engaging with staff and their representatives to keep them informed, as well as contacting British Steel’s customers.'

Trade union Unite called for the government to nationalise the company.

Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson said today that the collapse reflected the 'farce' of the Government's 'failed Brexit' as the UK faces a delayed departure on October 31.

The numbers behind the collapse of British Steel Factors such as rising costs and US tariffs have all added to the decline of British Steel. Below we detail the key figures you need to know, and how they affected the crash of the company. £1: In 2016 Greybull acquired British Steel from Tata for just £1 £79 million: The new owner of the company saw a viable opportunity, despite its annual losses of £79million on revenues of £1.2billion, under its previous owner £400 million: Greybull pledged £400million would be pumped into the struggling business 10 per cent: In September last year British Steel cut a whopping 10 per cent of its workforce, blaming the weakening pound for the decision £120million: The company sold off some permits to create working capital, but was caught out in a 'bad bet' and had to seek a £120million government loan £500million: Business Secretary Greg Clark said the company would have attracted an immediate and unremovable fine of £500million, which is why it granted them the government loan to fund new carbon permits 4,500: Jobs at sites in Scunthorpe and Teeside could be at risk, amounting to around 4,500 people being out of work Advertisement

Tim Roache, the GMB union's General Secretary, said: 'This is devastating news for the thousands of workers in Scunthorpe and across the UK.

'Consecutive UK governments have failed to protect our proud steel heritage, and now this Prime Minister is overseeing its demise.

'Ministers should have been ready to make use of all the options - including nationalisation - in order to save British Steel but they either don't care or wouldn't take off their ideological blinkers to save hard working people and communities.

'GMB demands urgent reassurances on what the future holds for the thousands of British steel workers and their families.'

More than 150,000 UK steel jobs have been lost since the 1980s, according to a new study by the GMB union.

In 1981 the industry employed 186,000 workers but the total has now slumped to around 32,000, it said.

The GMB said Yorkshire and the Humber has suffered the most job losses - 40,000 -followed by the West Midlands with 25,800.

British Steel worker Frank Giaquinto said morale at the Scunthorpe plant was extremely low, especially among younger staff. 'People have left in tears [this morning],' he said.

Three workers were seen leaving the plant carrying bags in their hands and told reporters they were now 'former' staff. One said: 'We used to be [staff].' They refused to comment further on the situation.

Hundreds of glum-looking British Steel workers were seen leaving the company's main plant in North Lincolnshire yesterday.

Employees traipsed through the front gate of the company's headquarters, with a number of workers describing the 'depressing' feeling inside the plant. Others said they had been 'left in the dark' about their futures.

Contractor Callum Wright, a 30-year-old father of three, said: 'I'm worried for my job.

Scunthorpe: How will the area be affected by the unravelling of British Steel Scunthorphe has a population of around 83,000 people, and more than 4,000 are employed at British Steel. The plant in Scunthorpe is one of two blast furnace steelworks left in the UK. The steelworks make steel from raw materials. The second site in south Wales is still owned by Tata. Steel making jobs are well paid and for the area provide a decent salary of around £36,000. This is much higher than the average salary for a permanent job in Scunthorpe which comes in at just over £22,000. Houses in Scunthorpe average on around £140,000, with the average rent for a one bedroom property at around £387. Around 14 per cent of people in the area claim benefits and it has 20 per cent less higher and intermediate managerial, administrative or professional households than the national average Advertisement

'There are a lot of rumours going around about about being made redundant, I think we could be gone by tomorrow.

'It's depressing coming into work at the moment, the atmosphere is rubbish. We're not really being informed about what's going on.

'I think everyone here knows the answer now though, people are preparing what to do next.

'It's going to be terrible for the town, everyone in Scunthorpe has a family member who works here so the effect will be huge.

'I have children so I worry about providing for them, I haven't got a clue what I'd go and do next. The uncertainty is really frustrating.'

Samuel Glentworth, a 19-year-old warehouse worker who only started at the plant five weeks ago, said: 'I've only just got this job and it would be a real struggle to find another one.

'I can't believe we could be out of work just like that, within a few days. The atmosphere on site has been bad because people don't know what's happening.'

Many British Steel employees expressed particular concern that their futures are 'up in the air' and that company officials are unable to keep 'them in the loop'.

One man, who gave his name only as Tony, leaned out his car window and said: 'The lack of information is the most frustrating thing.

'Nobody is telling us anything, we have to hear about what's happening on the news. At least if we had an idea we could start planning for the future, but we don't.'

How towns where steel works close face 'dramatic' consequence and take years to rebuild Over 40 years ago the steel works in Corby closed, making more than 10,000 people redundant and raising the town’s unemployment level to a staggering 30 per cent. The steel plant grew in the 1930s after the expansion of the iron industry with the Stewarts and Lloyds’ Steel Works soon being established. Soon, the population of Corby grew to 10,000 due to the works, which employed 4,000 people. Pictured above the Corby Works in Northamptonshire In 1979 Corby had around 60,000 residents, it was that year plans were announced to close the works, which were nationalised in 1967. Speaking to the BBC, council archivist Billy Daziel, said the town has only really just recovered from the devastation in the last 10 years. He said the rise in unemployment had a ‘dramatic impact’ on the town. This is while Dougie Reid, who used to work at the plant and campaigned to save jobs said the closure had been a ‘sad sad day’ for the town and it had also forced him to move out of the area and find work. Advertisement

Despite the generally depressing feel among most workers making their home, some maintained hope of a happy resolution to the company's troubles.

One man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: 'We still haven't heard anything official yet so we just keep coming into work and doing our jobs until we're told not to, that's all we can do.

'We have to keep hoping and keep out fingers crossed for good news and that there's a future for British Steel. It's out of our hands unfortunately.'

Scunthorpe Unite trade union official, Martin Foster, spoke outside the British Steel front gates yesterday to demand urgent answers from the government.

He said: 'We need decisions right now. We have had problems before but this has a scary feel of finality to it.

'This plant closing would mean thousands of people looking for jobs. The workers here give absolutely everything, they do everything that's asked of them and they deserve better.

'Their futures are in the hands of people who really have no understanding of their lives or what effect closing the plant would have on them.'

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said previously that 'it would be an economic catastrophe if the worst were to happen and Government was to allow British Steel to collapse'.

Shareholder Greybull had previously offered assurances on the company's future, promising it did have enough to continue operating.

British Steel's forerunner, the nationalised company of the same name, was privatised in 1988 by Margaret Thatcher.

The company merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens and become Corus Group, which Tata bought in 2007.

The Indian firm renamed it Tata Steel Europe in 2010. It sold off the 'long products division' to Greybull Capital three years ago.

After saving more than 4,000 jobs, they rebranded it as British Steel, with sites in Scunthorpe and Teesside.

British Steel's Scunthorpe plant (pictured)where workers today face being axed

A spokesman for Greybull Capital said today: 'Having rescued the business from closure over three years ago, we have worked hard to bring this important company back on its feet.

'Since 2016 we have arranged a financing package of more than £500 million, appointed a new and talented management team, helped the business open up new markets and reduce costs whilst addressing long-term under-investment.

'The turnaround of British Steel was always going to be a challenge, and yet the business overcame many difficulties, and until recently looked set for renewed prosperity.

'The workforce, the trade unions and the management team have worked closely together in their determination to strengthen the business; however, the additional blows dealt by Brexit-related issues have proven insurmountable.

'We are grateful to all those who supported British Steel on the attempted journey to resurrect this vital part of British industry. We are now focused on assisting all involved as best we can through this process.'

There was furious reaction to the collapse on social media with a petition started to renationalise British Steel

The curse of Greybull: Private equity brothers bought British Steel for £1 after presiding over collapse of Monarch Airlines, My Local corner shops and Rileys Sports Bars

By Henry Martin for MailOnline

Marc Meyohas of Greybull Capital stands in front of the British Steel sign, 2016

Greybull Capital, the private equity firm which bought British Steel for a token £1 in 2016 has a track record of investing in high-profile businesses that then close.

It was set up by secretive French brothers Nathaniel Meyohas, 46, and Marc Meyohas, 43, in 2010 to invest the wealth of two families - the Perlhagens and the Meyohases.

They have bought into a number of troubled businesses, with their most notable failure until now being Monarch Airlines.

The airline left more than 100,000 tourists stranded after it went bust with debts of almost £500 million, at an estimated cost of £60 million to the taxpayer. Nearly 1,900 workers were made redundant.

It held on to Monarch's engineering arm, Monarch Aircraft Engineering Ltd, until January when that unit also slid into administration with the loss of 408 jobs.

British authorities were forced to step in and help more than 100,000 holidaymakers get home - reportedly the biggest repatriation since World War Two.

Greybull Capital are the private equity firm who bought British Steel for a token £1 in 2016 (pictured: Nathaniel Meyohas, former partner at Greybull Capital)

The repatriation cost the taxpayer an estimated £60 million, the Times reported. Greybull had pumped £125million into Monarch in 2014 with hopes of preventing it from failure.

Greybull was also a leading backer in OpCapita's acquisition of electrical retailer Comet in 2012 for £2.

A year later, the British retailer, which had 236 stores and employed 7,000 staff, collapsed into administration and closed all of its outlets after a restructuring programme failed to deliver profitability.

The collapse left the taxpayer with a reported £23million bill.

The Comet investment was seen as a dark period for Greybull, with some accusing it of profiting while workers were made redundant.

Marc Meyohas had said: 'We are sorry for what happened to Comet. It's annoying to be referred to as guys involved with that. We had a tiny holding and no board position, so had little control.'

Another notable failure was the My Local convenience store chain, which was bought from Morrisons by a team led by retail entrepreneur Mike Greene, and backed by Greybull, for £25 million in 2015.

The chain was rebranded as My Local, but dived into administration in June 2016, resulting in the closure of 90 stores with more than 1,200 employees laid off.

Pictured: Greybull Capital's office in London's Knightsbridge. Greybull had pumped £125million into Monarch in 2014 with hopes of preventing it from failure

Greybull also oversaw the collapse of sports bar and snooker hall brand Rileys, which it purchased through a pre-pack administration in 2012.

The fund shed around half of the group's sites to drive profitability, but ultimately attempted to sell the company on in 2014.

After no buyer came forward to purchase the chain, it was placed into administration for a second time, before its 15 remaining sites were shut down by administrators Deloitte.

Following the news of British Steel's current troubles, a spokesman for Greybull Capital said: 'Having rescued the business from closure over three years ago, we have worked hard to bring this important company back on its feet.

'Since 2016 we have arranged a financing package of more than £500 million, appointed a new and talented management team, helped the business open up new markets and reduce costs whilst addressing long-term under-investment.

'The turnaround of British Steel was always going to be a challenge, and yet the business overcame many difficulties, and until recently looked set for renewed prosperity.

'The workforce, the trade unions and the management team have worked closely together in their determination to strengthen the business; however, the additional blows dealt by Brexit-related issues have proven insurmountable.

The downfall of British Steel has brought scrutiny on private equity giant Greybull, but is not the firm's first encounter with controversy (pictured: British Steel works in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, May 22, 2019)

'We are grateful to all those who supported British Steel on the attempted journey to resurrect this vital part of British industry. We are now focused on assisting all involved as best we can through this process.'

How Teesside is already in a 'sombre' mood and how it will be affected The British Steel Teeside base is the company's national hub for the processing and distribution of structural steel for construction applications. The Teeside branch has around 700 people working across it in areas such as Lackenby and Skinningrove. This week staff at the East Cleveland branch said they hadn't been told anything. 'Everyone is despondent. 'Uncertainty is the norm here but I've never known it like this. If the plant goes it would be like a ghost town around here.' The average salary in the area is just under £23,000, and the wide area of Middlesbrough has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the UK, sitting at around 14 per cent. The average house price in the area comes in at £111,386. Advertisement

The firm describe themselves as 'an entrepreneurial investment group, whose purpose is to improve businesses for all stakeholders'.

Their stated aim is to make companies successful by 'collaborating with management teams and employees and by investing our capital, time and expertise', with the hope of adding 'substantial value' to companies they take on.

Greybull invests wealth from two families - the Perlhagens, from Sweden, who made their fortune in pharmaceuticals, and Turkey's Meyohases.

In September 2018, Nathaniel Meyohas quit the firm in order to launch a turnaround fund.

Insolvency experts familiar with Greybull described its strategy and bosses as sharp-elbowed, secretive and unafraid of publicity or taking big risks, the Times reported.

In 2016 the secretive brothers behind Greybull warned that the rescue of British Steel might not work out.

On the first day of trading as British Steel it announced an investment package of £400million and revealed the business had been profitable for months.

But Greybull partner Marc Meyohas was cautious about the future, previously telling the Mail: 'We are the first to admit not every company we back will be a success – we don't hide from that fact.

'We conduct a difficult process investing in troubled assets which we try to turn around – we are not going to have a 100 per cent success rate. On the whole we try to get more right than wrong.'

Former Lehman Brothers banker Daniel Goldstein was also made a partner, and it was previously reported that all are resident in the UK, working from Greybull's office in London's Knightsbridge.

Previous investments have included Plessey Semiconductors and retailer Game Group.

Industry that provided the battleships to beat Hitler and the lifeblood of Britain's industrial towns enters final death throes: How 150-year-old steel trade finally discovered China was the enemy it couldn't beat

By Henry Martin for MailOnline

Britain's once mighty steel industry has seemingly entered its final death throes with British Steel entering liquidation.

With plants in Port Talbot, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield, Britain was formerly the powerhouse of the world's steel production - seeing generations working throughout the country's 150-year-long history in the industry, producing battleships that bested Hitler along with railways, bridges and buildings and providing thousands of British families with jobs.

The importance of steel throughout Britain's history is difficult to overstate - but the industry has endured booms and busts ever since its conception, and rising competition from emerging markets, particularly in Asia, have seen the colossus of Britain's steel industry cut down.

Britain had led the Industrial Revolution, which saw an explosion of coal mining, steam power, textile mills, and steel-based production at the turn of the 20th century.

Pictured: Quality checking a giant saw blade, Edgar Allen's steel foundry, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 1963

Pictured: A worker operating equipment at the Abbey Steelworks, Margam, Port Talbot, South Wales, October 1961

Pictured: Doncaster, where workers were making and repairing locomotives and rolling stock for the Great Northern Railway

July 1934: Elizabeth, Duchess of York, later the Queen Mother (1900 - 2002) receives an enthusiastic welcome from a crowd of female workers during a visit to the Firth & Brown steelworks in Sheffield

Steel-making in Scunthorpe began in the late 19th century and by the early 20th century, had consolidated into three large companies spread over a series of massive sites to the east of the Lincolnshire town.

The country's steel industry, including the Scunthorpe operations, was briefly nationalised by the post-war Clement Atlee Labour government but this was reversed by Winston Churchill's Conservatives in 1953.

In 1967, 90% of the steel industry was nationalised by Harold Wilson's Labour government and British Steel was created out of 14 separate companies.

The newly nationalised operation had around 270,000 employees - compared to roughly 30,000 today.

According to the 1971 employment census, 323,000 people were steel workers - 1.5% of all those employed. This had halved by 1981 to 167,000 (0.8%). The biggest drop was between 1978 and 1981, with numbers falling from 271,000 to 167,000.

In 1973, the government came up with a 10-year development strategy which would bring in billions of pounds of investment, but it meant the industry would be concentrated in five main areas: South Wales, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland.

Pictured left: A worker cleaning new carving knife blades during the abrasive process that follows knife grinding at a Sheffield steel factory, November 1959. Right: Out of work steel worker Peter Dixon with his children, walking through the industrial landscape of Port Talbot, Wales, 15th January 1964

Britain's steel industry, including the Scunthorpe operations, was briefly nationalised by the post-war Clement Atlee Labour government but this was reversed by Winston Churchill's Conservatives in 1953 (pictured: Workmen in a British steel foundry, circa 1960s)

In 1973, the government came up with a 10-year development strategy which would bring in billions of pounds of investment, but it meant the industry would be concentrated in five main areas (pictured: April 28, 1932: Making steel bill hooks and knives in Sheffield by hand)

The government's strategy of subsidising loss-making plants and prioritising employment levels came to an end with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 (pictured: Workers in the washroom facility at a steelworks, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, 1964)

The Scunthorpe works was rocked by disaster in November 1975 when 11 people died following an explosion in the Queen Victoria blast furnace.

Falling demand and productivity issues dogged the industry through the late 1970s.

The government's strategy of subsidising loss-making plants and prioritising employment levels came to an end with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

The total nationalised workforce at this time was about 142,000.

A 13-week national pay strike shut the industry down in 1980, and the early 1980s saw dramatic cuts to production in Scunthorpe - but around 9,000 people were employed in the industry in the town in 1982.

Left: An employee of the Abbey Steelworks of Port Talbot measures a roll of steel, October 1, 1961. Right: George Goodwin, a steel potter in Sheffield, July 1949

May 8, 1952: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (left) in conversation with craven lathe operator Joe Howsley in the Central Repair shop at the Steel Company of Wales at Margam, Port Talbot

The Tory government privatised British Steel in 1988. The national workforce had shrunk to 52,000 by this time.

By 1990, around 7,300 people were employed in the industry in Scunthorpe.

Steel requires large investment in its mills and furnaces, which can lead to an overproduction of steel, increasing supply and pushing prices downwards as developing nations look elsewhere to sell the surplus.

China's recent industrial revolution over the past few decades has seen the country invest heavily in steel production - and when the country overproduced, it would slash prices for international markets, crippling the competition.

In 1992, British Steel announced further cuts to the industry with the closure of the Ravenscraig plant in North Lanarkshire, dominating the headlines as it signalled the end of steel-making in Scotland.

In 1999 British Steel and the Dutch steel-maker Koninklijke Hoogovens merged, creating the Corus Group. The new firm became the biggest steel-maker in Europe. But Corus soon faced severe problems and announced plans to cut the national workforce, which dropped to around 30,000.

January 24, 1949: Workers leaving the Steel Company of Wales works at Port Talbot at the end of the afternoon shift

In 2007 Corus, including the Scunthorpe operation, was bought by the Indian firm Tata Steel in a £6.8 billion takeover.

The company intended to stay competitive with its rivals, taking over Corus in a £6.2billion bid to build the fifth biggest steel company in the world.

By 2014, around 34,500 people were employed in the UK's steel industry. A further crisis in the industry in 2015 saw closures including the end of the Redcar works, which was bought from Tata by SSI in 2012.

Further contraction took place at plants across the country as controversy swirled around energy costs and fears of cheap Chinese steel destabilising the world market.

Greybull Capital bought Tata's Long Products Division for £1 In 2016. It resurrected the name British Steel.

Today, British Steel went into liquidation, meaning up to 4,000 jobs in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, 800 in Teesside and 20,000 in the UK supply chain are now at risk.