Government urged to refuse £1bn British Steel repayment to Chinese former ownerReynolds has been told to avoid payout to Chinese companies over British Steel. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been urged to refuse to pay back almost £1bn in loans to the Chinese former owners of British Steel after it was nationalised earlier this year. “Taxpayers should not be rewarding Jingye for their failed ownership of British Steel,” Tice said. The company accounts suggested that British Steel needed hundreds of millions of pounds in fresh funding. The government opted to fully nationalise British Steel in July after a bill was passed by Parliament.